Great words for Sainz: 'He is the best driver in defending'

Carlos Sainz has been in excellent form since the summer break. The Spaniard finished handsomely fifth in Zandvoort with a lacklustre Ferrari SF-23, in Monza Sainz grabbed pole and finished third and in Singapore the Ferrari driver once again captured pole position and this time also converted it into a win. Former F1 driver Antony Davidson (now F1 commentator) argues that Sainz is the driver who can defend best in the F1 field.

'Sainz best driver in defence'

At the last two Grands Prix, Sainz did not just drag in his podium spot (in Monza) and his victory (in Singapore). To do so, the Spaniard had to defend hard and he succeeded: in Italy, Sainz managed to keep teammate Charles Leclerc behind him, and in the city-state, the Ferrari driver made immensely clever use of the DRS system to keep Lando Norris, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton from winning. For this, Sainz gets some nice words from Davidson.

"Carlos has definitely proven in the last two Grand Prix that his defensive skills are the best out there I think. I really do. He's so wise in where he places the car. He can understand what's going on behind him so well. He kept his teammate behind in Monza. He fought incredibly hard with Max, it's not easy to try and keep him behind you. And he's willing to take a good amount of risk as well, but it's a calculated risk with Carlos. He's a very classy driver," said the F1 commentator in the Sky Sports F1 podcast.

Sainz excels on street circuits

Davidson noticed that Sainz is especially good on street circuits. "He can still work on a little bit of that speed on more higher speed, faster flowing circuits. Street tracks are very different. You often see different drivers come to the fore for whatever reason at street tracks. [...] I think Carlos is one of those drivers, for whatever reason can get a bit more out of it than some. Monza was a great weekend for him. Singapore's obviously been fantastic for him as well. But I want to see that level of performance roll on into Suzuka because that's a more traditional kind of circuit where you would naturally expect Leclerc to get the better of Carlos."