"He just has to stay calm" - F1 CEO offers a piece of advice to Ferrari's Carlos Sainz after his tough weekends

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz has had two difficult weekends in Australia and Imola. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has now claimed that the Spaniard is capable of achieving "excellent results" if he manages to remain calm and focused rather than dwelling on the past.

As reported by PlanetF1, Domenicali commented on the Ferrari driver's incident with Daniel Ricciardo at the Imola Grand Prix last weekend and spoke about his confidence in Sainz's talent as an F1 driver. The Italian said:

“These are episodes to be managed psychologically, he just has to stay calm and he will surely achieve excellent results. Carlos Sainz is a very talented driver, unfortunately, [Daniel] Ricciardo touched him on a slippery track. But these are episodes that, if you don’t handle them well, you get into psychological difficulties that you don’t have to face. He has renewed his contract with his team for another two years, so the guarantees are there, he just has to stay calm and he will surely do well.”

Carlos Sainz recently signed a two-year contract extension with Ferrari and is set to remain with the team until the end of the 2024 season. His misfortune right after putting pen to paper has had his fans worried.

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Carlos Sainz "not as smooth" as he would like to be with the F1-75

Carlos Sainz missed out on crucial points at the Imola GP due to his collision with the McLaren. While he certainly looked more comfortable with the car, given his strong recovery from P10 to P4 in the Sprint race on Saturday, the Ferrari driver claimed that he is still not one with it.

Reiterating that he is trying his best to adapt better to the 2022 challenger, the Spaniard said:

“On the inside, it’s not comfortable yet. I’m still not as smooth as I’d like to be, and mistakes like [in qualifying] prove that maybe I’m still not 100% happy with the car and understanding it fully. But I’m hustling out there. I’m trying my best to get it up to my liking, to change my driving – and mistakes are going to come when you’re challenging yourself like that.”

When asked whether he needs to adapt his style of driving, or if the team can make some changes to fit his style more suitably, he responded, saying:

“Honestly, I think it’s a combination of both. There are no magic weapons. You have to do something from your side as a driver, and I’m having to do techniques and driving that I’m not used to doing in order to be fast with this car. And at the same time, I need some testing and I need some free practices to try things and bring it more to my liking, and for that I need FP1s and FP2s. As soon as I find the balance that I like and the combination with my driving, I know I can be as fast as anyone out there.”

While Charles Leclerc is leading the drivers' standings with a whopping 86 points, his 27-year-old teammate currently stands fifth after consecutive DNFs in the last two races.