Sainz claims 'BEST FEELING' as a Ferrari driver

Carlos Sainz has described the 'best feeling as a Ferrari driver' after a brilliant drive saw him claim his first podium of the season in front of the Ferrari home fans at the Italian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard masterfully defended against Max Verstappen in the early part of the race for 14 laps before the Dutchman eventually got past to claim a Formula 1 record ten consecutive race victories.

Sainz then got passed by Verstappen's team-mate Sergio Perez, before holding off team-mate Charles Leclerc to take home a well-deserved third place for the Ferrari team.

The Tifosi went wild for both drivers, who over the course of the Monza weekend provided a real threat to Red Bull's dominance. Sainz's 14 laps led at the start of the race was the most amount of laps led by any driver other than Verstappen or Perez this season.

That came after a fantastic Saturday for the team, where Sainz pipped Verstappen to pole position and Leclerc managed to claim a second row start to put the team in with a great chance of beating the Red Bulls on Sunday.

READ MORE: Unstoppable Verstappen is a MAJOR PROBLEM for F1

Unfortunately for them, Red Bull proved to have the much better race car, as they have all season long, and eventually came home to take a 1-2. Nevertheless, Ferrari and their fans will be very pleased with the third and fourth place finishes for their drivers.

"Celebrating today a podium here in Monza, probably one of the best feelings that you can get as a Ferrari driver," Sainz told Ferrari's official X page.

"It didn't come easy, as you can see it was a very tough race, I gave it my absolute everything you know, to stay ahead of the Red Bulls the whole race. Probably that cost me a bit of pace at the end of the stint as I was actually degrading my tyres quite a lot because of trying to keep the win and to keep the P1 and P2."

Smiles at Ferrari

Although team boss Fred Vasseur admitted after the race that they wouldn't be celebrating too much finishing in third and fourth place, it is a marked improvement on where Ferrari have been for most of the season.

Their drivers have only managed to get on the podium four times in the first 14 races, and they are currently sat in third in the constructors' championship with Sainz and Leclerc fifth and sixth respectively in the drivers' standings.

Compare this to 2022, when they were challenging Red Bull for race wins at a lot of races, and even came through to win four throughout the season.

Their impressive straight-line speed on show at Monza is perhaps a sign of better things to come, particularly with a lot of high-speed circuits coming up between now and the end of the season – and Sainz is reflecting positively on the weekend as a whole.

"In the end we managed to hold on to the podium, tough, nice battles with Max, with Checo, with Charles," he said. "I think it was a lot of fun and we managed to come home with a very well executed weekend, a lot of points for the team so overall a really nice weekend."

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