Sainz happy with himself: "I'm a driver who never puts it in the wall"

Carlos Sainz took his third podium since joining Ferrari at the Russian Grand Prix. Although the Spaniard took the lead from the start, a victory is still not on the cards. Nevertheless, the Spaniard's performance isn't bad at all as he has the longest points tally of the current field. Still, the former teammate of Max Verstappen is not completely satisfied with himself and his season so far.

Crashes at Zandvoort and Monza

Sainz has also had a few crashes in recent races. At Zandvoort and Monza he ended up in the wall during free practice, something his mechanics will not have thanked him for. Sainz himself has an explanation: "I think we took our chances to score those three podiums, but I think you guys saw from the outside that I don't feel at home in the car 100 percent yet."

"I don't want to bring up the crashes again, but I have never crashed in my career. I'm a driver who never puts it in the wall, but for some reason there have been a few crashes that show I still don't quite understand the car 100 percent," said the Spaniard at Motorsportweek.com.

Improvement in Sochi

For that reason, Sainz decided to approach his race weekend in Russia differently, and it proved to work. "I made a conscious effort to take it step by step in free practice and in qualifying, and really be fast when I need to be fast instead of being fast right away in FP1. it worked well, it gave me good confidence, and I was fast all weekend."