Sainz ready to tackle "emotional" final race with Ferrari
Ahead of his final race with Ferrari, four-time F1 race winner Carlos Sainz reckons that he expects the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to turn out to be an emotional weekend.
Ferrari's Spanish driver Carlos Sainz is approaching the final race of his career at Ferrari after the Scuderia had made the decision earlier to sign seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton for the 2025 F1 season.
The Madrid-born driver has won four races with Ferrari since joining the Maranello-based outfit at the start of the 2021 season, of which he scored two victories this year, most recently at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Ahead of his looming exit from Formula One's most successful team, the four-time F1 race winner has revealed that he expects his final race with the Scuderia to be an emotional one.
"Well, definitely, well, first of all, I think this weekend is going to be quite emotional, quite intense, not only because of it being the last weekend, but also for how much is at stake with the Constructors' title.
"At the same time, it's been a tough year in general with a lot going on in the background. I think I have to be quite happy, quite proud of how I handled every situation through the year and how I managed to push myself to get to the end of the year still in good shape, in good form and ready to fight for that," concluded Sainz.
Pushed on to reveal what he expects from the season finale, Sainz said that he thinks that the top four teams will display a very similar performance level due to the track characteristics.
"I would obviously love to contribute to that Constructors' title with a win. In the end, a win is what we need. I think we're going to need to have both cars on the podium if we want to clinch the championship, unless something very disastrous happens to McLaren.
'And yeah, that is my target. A different thing is now when we run the car on Friday, whether we have the capacity to win or not, and the performance this weekend to achieve that, but in the mindset of the whole team, we know we need to have both cars in the podium, ideally in a 1-2 position to have that, and to give ourselves the best possible chance to achieve that. It's going to be tough. It's a circuit that I think suits pretty much every car of the top four.
'And there's some long straights, with some slow speed that could help the Ferrari. There's some medium-long speed combined that could help the McLaren and the Red Bull. It's at night, which could help the Mercedes. So there's so many things, you know, and so many teams and drivers in contention for the win that it's impossible for me right now to say who can take that,' the Spaniard concluded.
