Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur said he’s optimistic Carlos Sainz will return in time for the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix afer undergoing surgery for appendicitis.
Sainz missed the Saudi Arabian GP after being diagnosed with appendicitis, and was replaced by Ferrari Academy and F2 driver Oliver Bearman, who scored 6 points on his F1 debut.
Luckily for Spaniard, his diagnosis arrived just in time for the two-week break until the next race, giving him additional time to recover. However, it is still unclear whether Sainz will make it for the Australian GP – and if he doesn’t, Bearman will replace him once again.
“The recovery so far is amazing, the fact he was able to come [to the Saudi Arabian GP race] to be with the team is a very good sign, and a very good support for us,” said team principal Vasseur following Saturday’s race.
“Now, he will fly back with me tomorrow [Sunday] and he will have one week of complete rest, and we will take a decision on when he has to fly to Melbourne in one week’s time. But I’m quite optimistic.”
Vasseur commended Sainz for his brave efforts during the first practice sessions around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, saying it is “a characteristic of the family! I’m not strong enough to extract Carlos from the car.”
“When he came on Thursday morning, he didn’t feel well. [He said] ‘let me try to do some laps,’ and he did the full session. The afternoon, it was exactly the same.
“Already, at this stage, it was amazing for me, because I found out after the session he was completely destroyed.
“If you look at the result of FP1 and FP2, he had a very decent pace, and he was even able to do long stints, and this was mega.
“But now let’s be focused on the future for Carlos. The most important thing is not to push today, it’s to recover and to recover properly.
“I don’t want to rush, but he’s an adult, and he’ll take the right decision.”
To conclude, Vasseur said that the Spaniard’s recovery will be “huge,” and emphasized again that he needs to have “a good rest this week” before the upcoming weekend in Melbourne.
