Just two weeks after he was rushed to hospital in Saudi Arabia for emergency surgery for appendicitis, Carlos Sainz was back in action for Ferrari on the track in Melbourne.
Sainz had been feeling unwell after arriving in Jeddah but thought it was just a stomach bug, before the full diagnosis was made. His place on the grid in that weekend's race was taken by reserve driver Ollie Bearman.
While Bearman put in a stellar substitute performance in the second race of the season, Sainz was already back in the paddock to watch the race from pit lane and determined to return to the cockpit for Australia.
He admitted that he was still not feeling 100 per cent physically, but reported no serious ill effects after taking part in two hour-long practice sessions at the Albert Park Circuit on Friday.
He ended the day third fastest with a best lap of 1:17.707s in FP2, less than a tenth slower than Red Bull's Max Verstappen, while his own Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc topped the times overall.
"It’s been a couple of tough weeks leading to today and to be honest I’m very happy I could complete both sessions feeling reasonably comfortable. I will continue to take it step-by-step.
"If you would have told me a week ago that I could do the whole practice without issues and all that, I would have been very happy, and I am very happy for that!
"Obviously I need a good night’s sleep and a good recovery for tomorrow," he added. "But I feel okay. Obviously a bit tired after a day of practice and not being 100 per cent physically, but I felt like I had a good day.
“I managed to complete the whole programme," he pointed out. "I took it step-by-step and kept into a bit of a rhythm, not at the limit of the car and not at the limit of myself yet.
"With more laps and getting a bit more confident with how everything feels inside, I think I’ll be faster tomorrow and hopefully battle for pole.
“I think Charles looked particularly very quick today,” he added. "But I think it’s going to be tight. We saw in FP1, I think in FP2 we did a good step. But yeah, I think quali tomorrow is going to be more like FP1.
"I’m confident tomorrow will be better," he insisted. "The car seems to be in a good place this weekend. We’ll try to maximise everything from body and machine!"
On the other side of the garage, Leclerc is hoping that this weekend will present Ferrari with its best chance of the year so far of taking pole position and vying for victory in the race.
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