Mexico City GP winner Carlos Sainz says that Formula 1 drivers need to be “determined” and “decisive” when battling for position with Max Verstappen.
From there the Spaniard put in a faultless performance to log his second win of the 2024 season, and the fourth of his career.
“I didn’t get a good start, but at the same time, I think Max tends to start very well,” said Sainz. “Here is very low grip, and whenever there’s low grip, the Red Bull tends to start really well.
“So I was kind of prepared also for a scenario where Max was going to go alongside me into Turn 1. I braked as late as I can brake, and he brakes as late as me, and I had no space to go into Turn 2.
“And from then on, I didn’t lose my head, and I knew that every half opportunity that I got to the lead back, I would try and do it. And yeah, with Max, you need to be determined, you need to be decisive.
“If you’re not, you’re never going to pass him. And in that case, I think I caught him a bit by surprise, and I could make it stick.
“High tension at that point, also because then that initiated a fight behind me that nearly got me involved also from what I heard. So, yeah, it was an exciting moment of the race.”
Asked to explain how he pulled off the pass Sainz said: “Before Turn 1 I got a really good tow on DRS, but I saw that I was probably going to be a bit too far back.
“But then right in the last 100 metres, I felt like I had a good momentum and I’ve been feeling very confident braking into Turn 1 this weekend. The car has been giving me good confidence to brake late there, and I just went for it, and it happened.
“Also this mentality of knowing I had a bit less to lose in that battle, and that I could be aggressive and send one. And yeah, I’m glad it happened, because I needed to get back to P1, to then set my pace from there.”
Sainz admitted that at one stage when he was running one-two ahead of Charles Leclerc he thought the pace was too fast and that his team mate was pushing him too hard.
“I felt like it,” he said. “And that’s why at the time in the heat of the battle and the moment, I obviously opened the radio to give my opinion about the situation.
“And I felt like potentially, especially after being one-two, which was a dream scenario, and exactly where we wanted to be after Turn 1, the ideal was to make it to the target lap and obviously keep our tyres alive.
“So I gave that opinion in the heat of the battle, but honestly, I also understand why Charles obviously was there behind and trying to speed me up, because that’s what you do when you’re P2 and when you also want to win.
“Racing situations, heat of the battles, heat of the moment, but nothing that has never happened before. Also from my side, so I completely get it.”
In the end it was a straightforward win for Sainz.
“Once I was in the lead, I was trusting my pace, my management,” he said.” And I knew this weekend I’ve been very quick, and I knew I just had to do whatever I had planned, and the win was possible.
“Towards the end, McLaren and Lando [Norris] proved that they are still fast, and they’re still very quick and very difficult to beat, but I’m glad that we got fastest lap with Charles, and a lot of points for the championship.”