Carlos Sainz admits being able to do something for the first time since Austria last year

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Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz says he was able to truly attack for the first time since Austria last year during Saturday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

Sainz was ‘best of the rest’ behind the dominant Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in Sakhir, scoring a podium for Ferrari.

The Spaniard says it’s a ‘relief’ that he was able to drive an aggressive race as the Scuderia cemented their status as the reigning champions’ nearest challengers.

Sainz qualified fourth on Friday, two spots behind team-mate Charles Leclerc, but was able to battle past as the Monegasque wrestled with braking issues.

He then executed a move on Mercedes driver George Russell to climb into the top three, but didn’t have the pace to catch Perez on harder tyres in the final stint.

Carlos Sainz hoping to be ‘aggressive’ this year after ‘impossible’ 2023

During the post-race press conference, Sainz was asked by Diario AS how it felt to drive an aggressive race rather than worrying about defending.

He explained that last year’s Ferrari struggled in dirty air, with the Austrian Grand Prix a rare exception. Sainz was able to work his way through the field from 15th place in Spielberg to finish sixth.

The 29-year-old is cautiously optimistic that he’ll spend more time looking forward than in his mirrors this season, especially after performing well at one of the season’s most tyre-limited venues.

He said: “It’s actually a bit of a relief, you know, because I remember last year, the last race where I was attacking was Austria. And we’re talking about 13, 14 races ago.

“And then the rest of the races last year, you just had to manage. You just had to look in the mirrors. You just had to control your pace.

“And there were very little opportunities to go and overtake people. And I love going racing, and I love going overtaking, being aggressive, attacking.

“And with last year’s car, it was simply impossible to do that. As soon as we were in dirty air, as soon as we overheated the tyres, as soon as we pushed a bit too much, it was game over.

“And this year to come to the most rear-limited track of the season, the highest degradation, and do an overtaking, attacking race for me is a relief and it gives me a feeling that we will be able to do this more often this year.

“It doesn’t mean we will do it every race at all, because I still think one of our strongest parts of our car is qualifying, so I think we will still qualify maybe ahead of what maybe our true position is, but at least we’re not degrading and defending like crazy like we were doing last year.”

Sainz wins praise for performance in Bahrain after Ferrari call

This was Sainz’s first race since Ferrari announced that they will replace him with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton for the 2025 season.

Last year’s Singapore Grand Prix winner may have impressed potential suitors with his driver-of-the-day winning performance under the lights.

Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle praised Sainz in particular for what he called a ‘lovely’ move on Leclerc as he seized the early advantage in the intra-team battle.