“He’s not number 2”: Guenther Steiner claps back at claims of Carlos Sainz being a secondary driver at Ferrari
Former Haas team boss Guenther Steiner recently opined that Carlos Sainz is not a second driver at Ferrari. Rather, Steiner believes that he is as quick as his teammate Charles Leclerc.
Carlos Sainz recently won the 2024 F1 Mexican GP after starting from pole position and fighting reigning world champion Max Verstappen. At the start of the race, the Spaniard lost the lead to Verstappen but soon regained the top spot from the Red Bull driver with a lunge down the inside at Turn 1. He somehow retained the lead in the tricky section of Turns 1, 2, and 3.
After the initial tussle, Sainz pulled a massive gap between him and the rest of the pack, so much so that he easily pitted for a fresh set of hard tires during the middle stint. Even though his teammate, Charles Leclerc was in second place, the Monegasque was unable to close the gap and challenge Sainz for the race win. In the end, Leclerc was overtaken by Lando Norris after the Ferrari driver made a slight mistake on Turn 17.
Speaking about Sainz's win in Mexico on the Red Flags podcast, Guenther Steiner initially discussed how many people see Sainz as a number 2 driver. He then shared his opinion that the Spaniard was not a number 2 driver. He counted the number of race wins between the two Ferrari drivers, saying that when Sainz won his two races, Leclerc lacked a lot of pace. Steiner made a bold claim that Sainz was as quick as Leclerc.
"He's not a number 2, Carlos Sainz. How many races did he win this year, and how many did Charles Leclerc win. It think Carlos is as quick as Charles. He won two races where Charles Leclerc was nowhere. He's not a number 2. I think he matches what McLaren has got at the moment, with Lando and Oscar Piastri. I think he's the same," Guenther said at 14:55.
Guenther Steiner showered praises on Carlos Sainz after his Mexican GP win
Guenther Steiner recently picked Carlos Sainz as the 'rockstar' of the Mexican GP as the Spaniard won his second race of the season.
Speaking on the aforementioned podcast, Steiner said that Sainz did everything right throughout the Mexican GP race weekend. He added that since there were loads of other narratives taking place in F1, his departure from Ferrari took the backseat. He praised Sainz for quietly winning another Grand Prix.
"He did nothing wrong. He just delivered the whole weekened, you know. Unfortunately, he is leaving Ferrari and nobody took a lot of notice of it because of all the other stuff which happened, you know. But he won, he was just like...flawless," Steiner said.
After winning the 2024 F1 Mexican GP, Sainz sits in fifth place in the drivers' championship with 240 points. Meanwhile, Leclerc is in third place with 291 points.