"You have to give him time to see how the team works" - Carlos Sainz on newly appointed Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur

Ferrari recently announced that Sauber’s Fred Vasseur will be replacing Mattia Binotto as the team principal and Carlos Sainz is optimistic about the team's future under his leadership.

The Spaniard revealed that he has an existing relationship with Vasseur and seems certain that he will "do well" with the Scuderia.

As reported by Motorsport.com, Carlos Sainz said:

“I’ve heard very good things about him. I know him personally, he already wanted to sign me to go to Renault. I spoke to him yesterday, I called him and I had my first contact as a Ferrari driver. I know he’s going to do well.”

“Whenever someone new arrives, he has extra motivation, wanting to do well for himself and for the team. You have to give him time to see how the team works, know what changes are needed. Ferrari is very big and I know it will take time. It doesn’t happen from one day to the next.”

Carlos Sainz considered the 2022 F1 season to be more challenging than his rookie season

Ferrari in general had a rocky year in 2022. After a strong start, they slowly and painfully fell behind in the championship as the season progressed. Carlos Sainz, in particular, had an underwhelming season when it came to competing with his teammate Charles Leclerc, who was initially a strong contender for the world champion.

As reported by F1.com, Sainz admitted that the challenges from the 2022 season proved to be even greater than those in his rookie season. He said:

“It’s been a very challenging start to the season with me immediately on the back foot and heading into challenges that I probably didn’t expect to have. But I’m honestly very proud, the way that I recovered the season, the way that I managed to stay motivated, even with all the ups and downs that I had, with all the setbacks that we had.”

“I think in that sense, it’s been the year that I’ve learned the most since 2015 –that was my first year in Formula 1. Then I had tougher and easier years, but never such a challenging year as 2022. I found myself in a position where I was driving with this car, I was constantly off the pace in the first five, six races, and I had to fight a lot to change some things in my driving, some things on the car, try to get the car a bit closer to my liking.”

Carlos Sainz finished the 2022 F1 season fifth in the drivers' championship.