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Carlos Sainz Wanted One More Win Before Leaving Ferrari, He Secures It With Mexico City Win

f1 grand prix of mexico
Sainz Wanted One More Win Before Leaving FerrariBryn Lennon - Formula 1 - Getty Images

A stellar Mexico City Grand Prix for both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc moved Ferrari past Red Bull into second in the 2024 constructor's standings with just four races remaining. Sainz secured his second victory of the 2024 season and his first since the third round in the Australian Grand Prix; this time, it came in a slightly less dramatic fashion. He didn't have to overcome appendix surgery one week prior, and the heavy race favorite didn't crash out on the first lap.

This win marks the first time Sainz has been a multi-race winning driver since entering F1 in 2015. All four of his wins have come throughout his three seasons with Ferrari.

The Spanish-born driver was proud and energized to race and win in the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world. He credits his fanbase and supporters to some of his success this weekend, from his two stellar Q3 qualifying laps to his Grand Prix victory.

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"I’ve been feeling their support all this week," Sainz told F1TV. "I feel like I have a lot of fan base here in Mexico, and they gave me a lot of strength to do the weekend that I’ve done."

Next year, Sainz will move to Williams, as Lewis Hamilton replaces him at Ferrari after two seasons.

"Honesty, I really wanted this one," Sainz continued. "I really needed it for myself. I wanted to get it done. I’ve been saying it for a while: I wanted one more win before leaving Ferrari, and to do it here in front of this mega crowd is incredible. Now, [with] four races left, I want to enjoy as much as possible, and if another one comes, I’ll go after it."

It wasn't all smooth sailing for the Smooth Operator as Sainz lost the lead entering turn one to Max Verstappen; he momentarily got it back after going off track in response to the turn one crash that saw the end of VCARB's Yuki Tsunoda's race. Knowing he would face a penalty for overtaking the track, Sainz gave the position back to Verstappen and lay in wait for the first nine laps after the safety car was deployed. In turn one of lap nine, Sainz under-braked into the corner and made what would become the race-winning pass on Verstappen.

On the next lap, Verstappen became embattled with his closest WDC competition, the McLaren of Lando Norris. Their battle resulted in two 10-second penalties for Verstappen's reckless attempts and a new driver battling behind Sainz as his teammate Charles Leclerc took advantage of the WDC squabble.

With Leclerc staying at Ferrari next year and still technically a long shot for the championship battle. Some ease from potential team orders was granted to Sainz when, with eight laps remaining, Norris made it past Leclerc, who went wide into the final corner.

Once settled in third position, Leclerc and Ferrari changed their goal to capture the fastest lap point, knowing Leclerc could not make it back into the DRS zone of second-place running Norris.

The two Mercedes finished as they started, next to each other, with Lewis Hamilton finishing fourth and Goerge Russell finishing fifth, they started in sixth and fifth respectively.

After serving his two 10-second penalities were served, Verstappen had to battle back to a points-paying position from 16th, he would end the Grand Prix in sixth position.

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