Hospital bed to Aussie win: Sainz comeback kick-starts career،
MELBOURNE, Australia — A little more than two weeks ago, Carlos Sainz lay in a hospital bed in Saudi Arabia. A diagnosis of appendicitis on the morning of qualifying in Jeddah had forced him to undergo emergency surgery and, in doing so, forced him to miss the second round of what could prove to be the most successful racing season. most important of his Formula 1 career.
At that moment, a return to the cockpit of his Ferrari seemed distant. A return to the top step of the podium seemed like a pure fantasy.
Fast forward to the second round of Sunday's Australian Grand Prix and Sainz, just 16 days later, was overtaking reigning champion Max Verstappen to take the lead. The Red Bull's right rear brake was sticking – so much so that it would catch fire and cause the championship leader to retire two laps later – but it made Sainz's journey from hospital bed to victory no less outstanding.
For only the second time in 11 months, someone other than Verstappen would win a race. And just like in Singapore last September, it would be Sainz.
A remarkable recovery
The day after his operation in Saudi Arabia, Sainz scoured the internet for contact details of doctors who could help him get back into an F1 car as quickly as possible. There were examples of other athletes who had recovered surprisingly quickly in similar time frames – including Williams driver Alex Albon, who raced three weeks after complications during his operation to remove his appendix in 2022 – but there were no guarantees that he would be. being able to travel to Australia and race.
– Watch Formula 1 on ESPN networks throughout the season
“The reason athletes recover faster is because they can dedicate 24 hours a day for seven days to recovery. And that's exactly what I did,” Sainz said on Sunday. “I started going to hyperbaric chambers twice a day for an hour, taking an Indiba device, an electromagnetic device for wounds.
“I would schedule my time in bed, my time to go for a walk, my time to eat, what kind of food to recover. It's all focused on recovery to try to be ready for Australia.”
Progress during the first week was frustratingly slow, with long periods in bed and limited movement. Even nine days before Sunday's race, Sainz struggled to get out of bed to get to the airport and board his 24-hour flight to Australia.
“I could barely use my abs to move,” he said. “And I was like, 'That's not going to happen.'
“But I got on the plane, and suddenly when I landed in Australia, the feeling was much better. And every 24 hours, I was making much more progress than the first seven days, which is what people say elsewhere all the doctors and all the professionals told me: “Don't worry, because the second week, every day will improve much more than the first week”. So I just more or less followed this what everyone was telling me and I came up with a good plan.”
Even in full health, the Albert Park circuit is not an easy place to drive an F1 car, as several drivers can attest after crashing into its unforgiving barriers over the weekend. At a few places on the circuit, drivers are subjected to more than five times the force of gravity when braking, and Sainz said after qualifying that he felt a “strange sensation” in his abdomen.
Albon, who gave Sainz advice before the race weekend, including where to add extra padding under his seat belts to limit pressure on his scars, said he too had felt some unusual sensations after returning.
“Adrenaline is a beautiful thing! She fights a lot,” Albon said on Sunday. “I can tell you for sure that he wasn't comfortable in the car. The first few laps, for me, if I look back on it, it seems strange.
“You have this stomach of inertia, it's very weird, you feel everything moving inside you and it's not that pleasant. I'm not sure the human body is built to shoot five or six G with something loose inside. He did a very good job. job.
“But people also forget that you don't just have an operation, you don't train for a good two weeks, so you end up really out of shape, so it's not easy. I'm sure he will pass have a good night. sleep tonight!”
Sainz's lack of training since his operation led him to find himself in unfamiliar territory in the second half of the race. As Albon said, it's easy to forget how physical a full race in a Formula 1 car is, and before Sunday's 58-lap Australian Grand Prix, Sainz hadn't completed more than 25 laps in a single practice session.
“I was confident that the first half of the race would be fine, because that's more or less the laps I did on Friday,” he said. “Obviously the second half of the race was a little bit unknown, but once I got ahead and had a gap, you can manage anything. You can manage yourself, you can manage the tires, you have less pressure, you can choose your places to push and not to push and everything becomes much easier.
“I'm not going to lie, the last few laps I was a little stiff and tired, but nothing that slowed me down too much.”
In the showcase
Even without his remarkable recovery from appendicitis, Sunday's victory would have been a hugely important moment for Sainz.
In January, Ferrari informed him that he would be replaced by Lewis Hamilton in 2025, leaving the 29-year-old without a driver at a crucial time in his career.
Since his debut with Toro Rosso, Red Bull's junior team, in 2015, the Spaniard has driven for four different teams in F1. His time at Ferrari, dating back to the start of 2021, represents his longest spell with a single team and one he had hoped to extend to 2025 and beyond earlier this year.
With more than half the grid out of contract at the end of this year, there are plenty of options available to Sainz, but ensuring he ends up in the best possible place will depend on results like the one he achieved in Australia. It was clear Sunday night that the victory carried more weight than usual.
“It’s not just because of the last two weeks, it’s the whole start of the year in general,” he said. “How the year started with the announcement of non-renewal; then you get in shape, you prepare for the start of the season, pushing hard; and then you arrive in Bahrain, you make a good podium , say to yourself, 'OK, now the season is starting well and I can continue my momentum' and suddenly, boom… miss a race in Jeddah and the operation.
“Long days in bed, not knowing if I was going to make it back in time. Obviously, a lot of unknowns. Will I be fit again? Will I come back still feeling good with the car?
“And then all of a sudden you come back and win. So, yeah, what I said on team radio: Life is a roller coaster sometimes, but it can be really enjoyable and good for you sometimes. I just let it sink in and enjoy the moment.”
Third-place finisher Lando Norris, who was Sainz's teammate at McLaren in 2019 and 2020, believes all teams should stand up and take note of what the Spaniard achieved on Sunday.
“I think for people who know him, know what he can do, know his effort level, his approach and his dedication to wanting to be one of the best, just like he proved today. today and over the last two weeks,” Norris said. “I'm sure there are a lot of drivers who probably wouldn't have tried as hard and wouldn't have spent as much time and effort trying to recover and get back in the race car. And I think that’s just an example.” “
Sainz has been closely linked with a move to Sauber next year ahead of its rebranding to Audi in 2026, but Aston Martin, Mercedes and Red Bull also have incomplete line-ups in 2025. The latter has rarely been considered a serious option for Sainz. , but with Sergio Pérez out of contract at the end of the year and Verstappen's future uncertain after Red Bull's turbulent start to the year, it looks like it will be entertaining.
“You had a very quick victory as an unemployed driver today,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said when asked about his driver situation for next year. “The market is reasonably fluid with some driving factors.”
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, who reportedly has junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, 17, and two-time champion Fernando Alonso, 42, top his list to replace Hamilton, also gave Sainz a name check Sunday.
“Those who are available [for 2025] or who could be interesting, all have arguments in their favor, whether it's the youngest, the most mature in the best years, or Carlos,” he said. “It's a difficult choice, because it's It's not like there's a [knockout] criteria for one and everything points to the other. So I just want to step back and monitor the situation because some of the guys you mention could sign for other teams. So we just watch it. »
Meanwhile, Sainz knows that the more performances he can extract like Sunday's, the more options he will have for next year. Sources have made it clear he is eager to sort out his future as quickly as possible and the coming weeks could be crucial in allowing him to build on his success in Australia.
“For sure, [the race win] It doesn't do any harm for 2025. It's 100%,” he said. “But yeah, I'm still out of work for next year, so I guess that will help. And yes, I don't know, I think everyone knows more or less what I'm capable of doing.
“But I race for myself. I race to continue to prove to myself that I can win every time I have a competitive car and every time there is an opportunity to win over the course of a weekend. I'm not racing to prove to the team principals or the team executives. I'm racing to prove to myself that if I'm given a car, I can do it and I can be up there, and that's the mentality and the approach that I have and will continue to have the rest of the year.”
