F1
Race winner Daniel Ricciardo gives us his thoughts on Toro Rosso’s new recruit, Carlos Sainz.
Red Bull announced on Friday that Carlos Sainz will partner Max Verstappen at Toro Rosso for 2015. Sainz is following a similar career path to fellow Junior Team alumni Daniel Ricciardo, and the Australian is in no doubt that the 20-year-old Spaniard has what it takes to make his mark on Formula One. Here’s what the senior man had to say…
Daniel, how to you think Carlos Sainz will cope with the demands of F1? I think he’s very well prepared to move up. He’s impressed with the driving side of things and has the talent, so he won’t run into any difficulties behind the wheel. The real challenge will be to get his head around the rest of Formula One: dealing with the demands out of the car – but he’s a level-headed guy so I think he’ll get up to speed with that stuff fairly quickly.
He’s coming into F1 out of Formula Renault 3.5. Is it the right launch pad? Definitely. It was for me and since then the cars have got considerably faster so, if anything, it’s even better now than it was a few years ago. In terms of getting up to the physical speed of Formula One, I think it’s a lot closer now. I don’t expect there will be too much to faze Carlos. Obviously Formula One is quicker and there’s a lot more going on.
What does Toro Rosso offer a young driver? It’s definitely a good place to come into F1 because there are a lot of experienced people in that team and I think that’s what you need. You need guidance from people who've been there and done that. In a way, what you really need is for them to talk it down. Getting an F1 drive is pretty exciting! You want people who can downplay that, keep you on the level and feed you into it slowly. Obviously they did a lot of good things for my career and I’m sure they’ll guide Carlos in the same way. I think he’ll find a nice home there.
Your final year in the junior team coincided with Carlos coming into the programme. What have you made of his career since then? Yeah, we were in the programme together – though it seems a long time ago now! He and Dani (Kvyat) were the new guys at that point. I've watched their progress and I'm well aware of their successes and capabilities. They’re both good guys and have the speed and the attitude they need to make a success of this. Dani has obviously shown that this year and now Carlos will get the chance.
You've worked with Carlos while testing in Abu Dhabi and across the year when he’s been providing race team support in the simulator. How would you assess his character? We've also played a bit of tennis! Carlos is outgoing and, away from the track, he’s lots of fun. Easy going, not high maintenance, not too highly strung. Definitely the right personality for F1. Good at tennis too.
He’ll spend a lot of hours in the simulator this year, like I did a few years ago. The bonus for him is that all that simulator time pays off – it’s definitely an advantage to have that knowledge when you’re racing somewhere for the first time.