'A day to celebrate for entire team!' declares Sainz

©Ferrari

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Carlos Sainz was proud to proclaim that Ferrari were finally back at the top of Formula 1, having gone through some tough times in recent seasons.

Charles Leclerc claimed the first victory for the team since 2019, with Sainz following him across the line to make it a famous 1-2 success for the Scuderia in the 2022 season opener in Bahrain on Sunday.

"This is definitely a day to celebrate for the entire team," the Spanish driver said in parc ferme after the end of the race. “Ferrari are back, and properly back.

Read also: Leclerc heads Ferrari 1-2 in Bahrain amid Red Bull meltdown

"A 1-2, and where the team should have been over the last few years. The hard work is paying off and we are there.

Scoring maximum points this week puts Ferrari in serious contention for this year's driver and constructors championship titles, especially with Mercedes looking distinctly off colour despite Lewis Hamilton joining Leclerc and Sainz on the podium in Bahrain.

"[It's] the perfect reward for the tireless work [the team] have done over the last two years, and congrats to Charles on a solid win," he said. "I’m very happy with the result.

"We also want to share our joy with all our Tifosi around the world, because we always felt their support even when we were not fighting at the top.

While Leclerc started from pole and led for much of the race, Sainz was in third and the lucky recipient of a late technical failure for Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

After suffering power steering issues as the race entered its final stages of the race, Verstappen's problems escalated with a suspected fuel pump failure that ultimately left him limping back to pit lane to retire.

"He was unfortunate, I think today he was driving well enough to get P2," Sainz acknowledged, having managed to overtake the faltering Red Bull prior to its final expiration.

"He defended well, to be fair, and then suddenly I started seeing some flashing red lights from the back of his car, and I said: ‘Okay this is my chance’ and I went for it. I had a good run on him and then he had to retire."

Even though he was thrilled by the result, Sainz admitted that his race could have been better.

"I’m not particularly happy with my race," he said. "It was probably one of the hardest ones since I joined Ferrari. I wasn’t feeling at home with the car and we need to understand why.

"But today it’s time to celebrate this amazing result all together. The great effort to bring Ferrari back to the top, where it belongs, has paid off today and everyone deserves to enjoy it.

"We’ll keep pushing next week in Saudi. Forza Ferrari!"

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.