Former Ferrari engineer sends advice to Carlos Sainz, says the Italian outfit are mentally ruthless and he should grow a thick skin.
Carlos Sainz recently triggered headlines after the Spanish driver was signed by Ferrari to replace Sebastian Vettel from the lineup ahead of the upcoming season.
Amidst all of this, former Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley’s advice to Sainz before joining Ferrari is to “grow a thick skin”. Smedley opens about the intensity and expectations the team have from their drivers.
The Briton advised Sainz to cope with everything that’s going to be thrown at him next season and in the near future. Speaking to the F1 Nation podcast, Smedley said:
“Ferrari becomes a part of you and there are wonderful and really amazing things about Ferrari and there are some dreadful things about Ferrari,” he said.
“[In] Ferrari, there are is no second best, second-best is never good enough, it’s kind of a culture that’s built-in Mercedes now. Definitely with Ferrari you’ve got the added pressure of the media and the fans”
“It’s a national institution, it’s your religion. That pressure never ever goes away and people know who you are, at the same time, it’s an incredible place to work”
“They’re relentless and ruthless in their pursuit to win” concluded Smedley,” he further said. This is going to be the youngest pair to compete for Ferrari in the last 50 years.
In recent years, the Italian team has been ending up behind Mercedes and would like to break the hegemony with all the money being splashed, meanwhile even Red Bull is looking to topple the two in the race.
With Mercedes also set to make certain alterations in their system, the next season would be interesting to watch.
