Ferrari recruit Carlos Sainz doesn't believe the Scuderia is a team that "devours" its drivers or that he will suffer in the Italian outfit's pressured environment that contrasts with McLaren's family atmosphere.
Sainz heads to Maranello to replace Sebastian Vettel whose six-year residency with Ferrari concluded on a sour note, due in part to the rise to prominence of teammate Charles Leclerc.
There's no denying that the Scuderia's pressure-cooker environment, of which the powerful and emotional Italian press has always been a major ingredient, has challenged drivers over the years.
For many, a multi-year honeymoon period with Ferrari has often been followed by consuming intervals of tension or internal strife that has burned out a few great talents, including the likes of Vettel.
©Ferrari
After basking in McLaren's warm, confidence-inducing atmosphere for two years, Sainz is set to open a new chapter in his career in a new but challenging setting. However, the Spaniard isn't worried about the reputation that precedes his new team.
"Ferrari is not a team that eats and devours its drivers," insists Sainz. "If you see Vettel's career… what driver wouldn't have wanted to spend five years at Ferrari like he has been?
"The longest I've been in a team is two years, so if Ferrari is a team that devours drivers, what are Renault, Toro Rosso and all the others?
"Alonso also spent five years at Ferrari. That doesn't seem like a team that devours drivers, but cycles.
"Of course I want to have a cycle at Ferrari, create a similar environment [to McLaren] there.
"I already have experience in creating a works team, and I hope I have a team equal, similar or better than the one I have at McLaren. I'm going to do my best to have it."
Sainz admitted that McLaren's convivial and friendly approach to driver management had allowed his talent to flourish over the past 24 months.
"A team like McLaren has allowed me to get the best version of myself as a driver," Sainz added.
"I am an improved version of what I was at Toro Rosso and Renault. I have improved in races, in starts, in qualifying, but I don't know where I am better now.
"It has been a continuous and probably more advanced progression than I thought.
"In McLaren I have felt more comfortable than in other places, and that stability of a two-year contract has allowed me to improve as a driver and adapt more to the car, get more performance. I'm very happy and very grateful for these two years."
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