Sainz: Top of my list to win once again with Ferrari before I leave

Sainz lost his seat with Ferrari at the start of the 2024 F1 season, making way for Lewis Hamilton, who is joining from Mercedes in 2025.

Sainz joined Ferrari from McLaren in 2021, replacing Sebastian Vettel, who in turn joined Aston Martin, and had achieved all his race wins, three, and pole positions, five, with the Maranello squad.

Sainz took his maiden pole position and victory at Silverstone in 2022. He then took a second win in Singapore in 2023 after a masterful drive, while his third win was at the 2024 Australian Grand Prix after coming back from appendicitis surgery that saw him miss the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

With six races remaining in his Ferrari foray, Sainz is keen to leave on a high and add one more win before he joins Williams, where his chances to win again will be very low in the foreseen future.

He said: "Obviously it’s at the top of my list to try and win at least once again with Ferrari before I leave. It’s in my head, not because I’m leaving at the end of the year with Ferrari, but because I always try to win every race that I go to.

"Let’s see. At the same time, it’s still one-third of the season left. It’s quite a lot actually when you think about it, and there’s three Sprints, plenty of the season left to go, so let’s go race by race," the Spaniard added.

Sainz contested his 200th F1 race at the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix recently and is now gearing up for the US Grand Prix in Austin in two weeks.

His is currently fifth in the F1 drivers' championship on 190 points. Teammate Charles Leclerc is third with 245 points. Ferrari are third in the constructors' standings with 441 points, 34 points behind second-placed Red Bull Racing, as McLaren lead the standings with 516 points.

With Ferrari's form fluctuating in 2024, Sainz was asked if they could keep their position in the constructors' championship; he responded: "We will try.

"I think we also need to show progress at the other kinds of circuits like Brazil, Austin, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, which are more normal circuits.

"If we show progress there I think we might have a chance. If on those circuits we’re still behind like we were in places like Spa or Hungary, then it means we have a lot of work to do," he concluded.