Sainz on Ricciardo departure: 'This is how the sport judges us'

Sainz and Ricciardo have followed similar career paths. Both drivers started at Toro Rosso - now AlphaTauri - both have driven for Renault, and both have driven for McLaren. Indeed, in the latter two cases, Ricciardo was Sainz's direct successor. But where Sainz is still sure of a seat at Ferrari for the next two years and could potentially fight for victory, Ricciardo will leave the sport and have to hope for a return in 2024.

According to Sainz, this is unfortunate but unfortunately the nature of the sport. As he sees it, your past does not matter, only your most recent result counts. "This is how the sport judges us. Every driver knows this because it happens to all of us, every race, on a small scale. When you win, you are a hero: it's your best weekend, you are the best driver in the world. Nobody can beat you!" But that success is short-lived if you don't see it through: "All that matters after that is that you were half a second off in the last qualifying session. And there's nothing we can do about that."

Sainz believes in good future for Ricciardo

Sainz does, however, remain hopeful for a return of Ricciardo. The sentiment that only your last race counts also works the other way, of course, and according to Sainz that could be the solution for Ricciardo. He is convinced that if Ricciardo wins a race on his return, all the bad results at McLaren will be forgotten. "That's why in F1 you always have to be focused on the next race, because in the next race you can change everything again."