Sainz completes first simulator session at Ferrari

Jamie Woodhouse
Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz starts proper work at Ferrari with first day in the simulator.

Carlos Sainz has completed his first real day of work with the Ferrari team after stepping into the simulator for the first time.

Before the 2020 campaign began, Ferrari started a chain reaction in the driver market after confirming Sebastian Vettel’s contract would not be renewed for 2021.

They later confirmed Carlos Sainz as his replacement on a multi-year deal with the Spaniard moving on from McLaren after two successful seasons with the Woking outfit, finishing P6 in the Drivers’ Championship in 2019 and 2020 while also making the podium twice.

The final piece of that particular puzzle was completed when Daniel Ricciardo was confirmed as Sainz’s replacement, ending his two-year spell at Renault.

While Sainz had already completed his seat fitting, on Friday he was at Ferrari’s famous Maranello factory to jump in the simulator for the first time to step up preparations for the 2021 campaign.

Before getting to trying out the sim, Sainz also got the chance to meet his new engineers, leading to a lengthy meeting.

“Hi everyone. Hello from Maranello. Finally, here, finally starting to work properly with all the engineers, all the people here,” said Sainz in a social media video from Maranello.

“I’m always meeting a lot of new faces, a lot of new names. That is going to be tough to learn immediately, but I’m getting there. Yesterday I think I had six-and-a-half hours of meetings, which obviously was encouraging to see already everyone working flat out for this year.

“Today for the first time I’m jumping in the simulator, so I will get to try for the first time the car, the simulator, and start giving a bit of feedback, working hard for this season. Thank you very much for the support, we keep pushing, and see you soon. Bye!”

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Sainz started his Formula 1 career back in 2015 when he was placed at Toro Rosso alongside the also debuting Max Verstappen, back when Sainz was a member of the Red Bull driver programme.

After a stint with Renault from the back end of 2017 through to the end of 2018, Sainz moved on from Red Bull and signed with McLaren, finally leaving behind the rolling one-year contracts.

And with that security Sainz truly came into his own at McLaren, scoring 201 points across his two seasons with the team, including a P3 finish at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix and P2 at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix.

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