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Carlos Sainz Jr has rejected Ross Brawn’s suggestion he is getting nervous about joining Ferrari given the team’s Formula 1 slump and says he’d accept the offer “100 times again”.
Sainz will replace Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari in 2021, but his future employer is currently enduring a difficult season and is behind Sainz’s current team McLaren in the championship.
Ferrari’s down-on-power 2020 engine and draggy chassis have combined to reduce the most famous team in F1 to a midfield contender this year, which led ex-Ferrari technical boss and now-F1 sporting chief Ross Brawn to suggest it would be making Sainz “nervous” about what should be a dream move.
Asked by The Race if he’d think twice about accepting a Ferrari offer, Sainz said “no, definitely not” and in the context of Brawn’s comments said his own misfortune in 2020 is causing greater concern at the moment.
“I’m very comfortable with the decision I’ve taken,” said Sainz.
“I’m fully, 100% confident in Ferrari’s people and in what they can do for the future.
“Let’s just remember that last year they were capable of doing seven pole positions so it’s a team that I think knows how to produce very good cars.
“And regarding if I am nervous, what makes me nervous is to lose 30 points due not on my own.
“That’s what really concerns me right now and what really makes me go to bed thinking ‘Where the hell have I lost this amount of points and how is this happening to me?’.
“I’m fully confident, I’m ready to go for next season and I cannot be more excited.”
Sainz should be fourth in the drivers’ championship but a host of dropped points means he is only 11th.
Despite that, he’s still two places and seven points clear of Vettel, whose Ferrari farewell is going even worse.
Ferrari’s step back has been met with realism from the company’s chiefs, with chairman John Elkann admitting in a rare recent interview that he does not foresee success before 2022, when new technical rules come in.
That means Sainz is unlikely to enjoy the career-changing debut season with Ferrari he had hoped for when he signed, but he is adamant there is ‘no bad time’ to join the team.
Speaking at Monza on Thursday ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, Sainz said he is already noticing the attention of Ferrari’s fans and the “energy” they bring and it makes him “feel how exciting it’s going to be next year being part of such a team with such a history”.
“I think going to Ferrari’s such a unique experience and such a special place for a Formula 1 driver that I don’t think there’s ever going to be a bad time where you will say, ‘I do not want to go to Ferrari’,” Sainz said.
“If you give me that option 100 times again I will always say yes.”
