22/01/2021
NEWS STORY
Ferrari boss, Mattia Binotto has revealed that prior to signing Carlos Sainz the Italian team looked at all aspects of his work including his radio communications.
As well as the Spaniard's consistency and speed, Binotto admits that the Italian team analysed his radio transmissions in its desire to understand his way of working, and thereby his suitability.
"Before we made him an offer, we listened to all his radio communications," Binotto told the official F1 website's Beyond The Grid podcast, "just to see the way he was communicating.
"You can see the way he is communicating is somehow telling you a lot about the way he is approaching the exercise, very precise, I think," he added.
"He's a hard worker, he's methodical, he's robust, and I think they were all components that were important for us.
"In the race, he is consistent, he is fast, he is defending, he is attacking," the Italian continued, "but is bringing always the car to the finish line in a consistent way. So I think he is a good driver to build a good season on of constructors' points.
"Then we made an analysis on his speed; I believe he is fast, we believed he was fast, and I think he has proved to be very fast if you are comparing to Norris who, already last year proved to be a very fast driver.
"But if you look at Carlos in 2020, I think in the comparison he has been very strong, I think improved himself in qualifying compared to what it was before and is still very strong in the race. So he is a hard worker.
"On top of that he is young, which is why I think he's got many years of experience in F1. He's still a young driver so he's got a lot of time to develop, and he's not at the end of his career."