(Motorsport-Total.com) – Dear readers,
it has been exactly ten years since Formula 1 raced for the first time on the streets of Baku on June 19, 2016. Everyone was excited about the Grand Prix debut in Azerbaijan, and many had predicted a chaotic race with many crashes on the city circuit. In the end, it turned out quite differently, and the European Grand Prix let many Formula 1 fans sleep well – and that already in the early afternoon.
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I still remember well that in the media center in Baku, unconventionally located not directly in the paddock but in the Hilton Hotel next door, many journalist colleagues were not even watching Formula 1 but Le Mans. In the classic 24-hour race, the leading Toyota practically broke down in the very last minute, and Porsche unexpectedly inherited the victory. A drama of historic proportions.
Many have probably already forgotten the first winner in Baku. It was Nico Rosberg – the man who would become Formula 1 world champion a few months later. And the man who said yesterday afternoon during the English-language TV broadcast on Sky: “Carlos Sainz was the ambassador. So we have to criticize Carlos Sainz.”
Rosberg’s criticism refers to the Madrid ring, where a similarly soporific Grand Prix debut took place on Sunday as ten years ago in Baku. With one, in my opinion, essential difference: The first Formula 1 race in Azerbaijan may have been sportingly unexciting. But the TV images were not, with the iconic old town section and the spectacular backdrop of the skyline of a city whose prosperity is tinged with the smell of oil and gas.
The TV broadcast from Madrid occasionally showed drone or helicopter shots of one of the undisputed most beautiful metropolises in Europe. But whenever the race track itself was in focus, it had the charm of a “concrete channel,” as Alexander Wurz noted in his role as an expert for the Austrian broadcaster ORF.
Madrid ring: Great corners, lousy racing, dull backdrop
The chairman of the drivers’ union GPDA gently criticized the Madrid ring project, saying among other things: “Am I now in Australia, am I in Valencia, am I here in Madrid, where am I? Or in Jeddah? These city circuits all look the same. That means I don’t represent my host city that cool. There could be some improvements.”
The big difference is: While in Baku or Singapore the Formula 1 track was built right in the city center, the Madrid ring is located on the city’s exhibition grounds. Probably because in a European democracy it may be somewhat more complex and bureaucratic to let a Grand Prix run right through a historic old town than it is in an Asian autocracy.
In addition, the race hardly thrilled anyone. The Madrid ring combines the prickly anti-charm of the predecessor project in Valencia with a track layout that makes overtaking almost impossible. A Monaco for the poor, one might sneer.
By the way, hardly anyone had the courage to say this openly. It is astonishing how much the Formula 1 team principals can now hold themselves together when it comes to not badmouthing a new product. Before Liberty Media took the sport public, I assume it might have been different.
Still, to blame Carlos Sainz for this, as Nico Rosberg does, because of his role as official ambassador, is probably inappropriate. The track design was done by others, and he can’t be blamed for the exhibition grounds of his hometown radiating the tactile attractiveness of an exhibition center.
Sainz in Madrid: Like a PlayStation gamer
What he can be blamed for, however, is the PlayStation-like action right at the start. Sainz got off the line superbly, grabbed three opponents while accelerating towards the first corner. There he wanted to take on the next two in the best hobby gamer style – but instead, he slid with a stationary right front wheel into Yuki Tsunoda’s VCARB. The gamers among us would probably have quit the game after such a start and tried again immediately. Reality is just not like that, as a spoilsport.
That Sainz describes this blind flight afterwards as a “small contact with Tsunoda,” “in which I damaged the underbody,” makes everyone laugh who watches his onboard perspective again calmly. That he did not receive a penalty from the FIA stewards for the action can probably only be due to the home advantage.
Later in the race, there were five seconds added, but for another action with fellow countryman Fernando Alonso. Alonso raged on the radio: “He pushed me against the wall, man. At the start, he crashed into two people. And now he pushes me against the wall while braking.” And all Sainz could say about the borderline situation was: “Fernando only complained on the radio so that I get a penalty. As always.”
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In the end, both Spaniards played no role in their home Grand Prix. Sainz eventually stopped because he saw no point in struggling further with so little downforce. “Hopefully this is the last year I fight for 16th place here in Madrid. From next year, I hope to fight for more again,” he says.
The truth is: He had no other choice …
An optimism that probably not many share. Sainz has just extended his Williams contract, and even if he tries hard to sell it under the claim that he believes in the long-term perspective of the project – the truth is: If he had had an offer from Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, or Red Bull, he would have accepted it without batting an eye.
Sainz’s belief in Williams is, viewed with a touch of sarcasm, mainly based on the fact that he had no better options anyway. Only he can hardly have that written as his quote in the Williams press release about the contract extension.
At 32 years old and with contracts at Red Bull (Toro Rosso), McLaren, and most recently Ferrari, he has probably passed the golden age of his Formula 1 career, because in an era where young wild ones like Kimi Antonelli are pushing through, it seems hard to imagine that a team principal with a winning car will consciously decide to bring Sainz out of obscurity and give him the chance to become world champion.
A truth that sounds pretty brutal when written down like this. And does not necessarily mean that the Spaniard has failed in his work.
Why it is still a successful career
Sainz has been racing in Formula 1 since 2015, has won four Grands Prix, and earned millions at legendary teams like McLaren and Ferrari. In his first season at Toro Rosso, he was almost equal to a certain Max Verstappen, and over the years he earned a reputation not only for having a fast right foot but also the smartness and foresight of a successful businessman. He just can’t deny his father’s genes. Also, when it comes to good looks.
But the thing about winning a Formula 1 world championship, soberly considered, probably won’t happen in this life anymore. Not because he occasionally has a blackout Sunday like yesterday in Madrid. But because the big ones no longer want him, and because I lack the imagination of how things with Williams could improve in the next few years.
Maybe in hindsight it would have been wise to switch to Audi instead of Williams, where the then (Sauber) team principal Andreas Seidl really wanted him. Audi might not be much further ahead by 2026 either. But the chances of making a breakthrough with a factory team are probably a bit better than with Williams.
Sainz and his father secretly hoped, when they somehow overlooked Lewis Hamilton in their transfer poker, that maybe a door might open at Red Bull or even Mercedes. But even then, Toto Wolff preferred to give the blank slate Antonelli a chance rather than the veteran Sainz. And the Verstappens stayed exactly where they were.
In the end, it was not Audi but Williams – and possibly the beginning of the last chapter in Sainz’s Formula 1 career. It is quite possible that he will still crawl around in the midfield for a few years. It is rather unlikely that it will be much more than that.
Maybe he would be well advised to use his talent elsewhere, where it can be better showcased. At an endurance classic like Le Mans, for example, or in the “Green Hell” at the Nürburgring. There Sainz might one day even compete again with Verstappen and Antonelli. At that very high level worthy of a man of his caliber.
Yours
Christian Nimmervoll
Note: It is in the nature of things that this column reflects my subjective perception. Anyone who disagrees is welcome to discuss it with me, on my Facebook page “Formula 1 inside with Christian Nimmervoll.” There you will not primarily find “breaking news” from the Grand Prix circus, but mainly strictly subjective and sometimes quite biting assessments of the most important developments behind the scenes of Formula 1.
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