Carlos Sainz recalls appendicitis scare: “I could have died”

We are almost nice races into the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship and one of the key moments of the season so far was without doubt Carlos Sainz’s victory at the Australian Grand Prix. Apart from seeing off the competition, it was an achievement in itself how the Spaniard managed to haul himself up onto the podium. Just just two previously, the Ferrari driver had to undergo emergency surgery due to an appendicitis which forced him to retire from the Saudi Arabia GP.

Carlos Sainz receives shock diagnosis in Saudi Arabia

Carlos opened up about the suffering he went through in the latest edition of the Nude Project podcast: “They were the two hardest sessions of my career (Friday’s free practice sessions), on a super physical circuit with very fast corners, I didn’t eat, I had no energy, I sweated more than usual... I suffered a lot”, he told Alex Benlloch and Bruno Casanovas. But the story didn’t end there. The next morning, Carlos realized that his discomfort was probably not just a virus. A trip to hospital confirmed the diagnosis, as he was told he had appendicitis.

His mind working overtime, Sainz’s first thoughts were how he could get through the weekend and compete. But medical staff warned him that they had to operate immediately. “I told them, ‘If you can give me something [painkillers, medication], I’ll have surgery after the race...’ But they told me that wouldn’t be possible - that I had the risk of something very serious happening to me and I could even die if [my appendix] ruptured.”

Only then did the Spaniard agree to undergo surgery, while already thinking ahead to Australia. He needed to show that he deserves the best slot on the grid once he leaves Ferrari this season. But coincidentally, that feeling was not new for him: “In 2014 (a year before his debut) Red Bull told me, ‘Whether you win or not, we’re going to get you into F1. And even if we win there may not be room.’ When I was about to win the World Series, Red Bull signed Verstappen and I was left without a place. But I won the championship, another opening presented itself and that was it for me.”

Despite having been a promising driver right from the beginning, Carlos never lost hope. “If I had been useless, my father would have taken me to play golf or tennis,” he notes.

“In my head there was never a Plan B”, admits the Spaniard, who in 2015 was able to finally realize his dream and make the leap to F1: “Being like [Ayrton] Senna, [Michael] Schumacher and [Fernando] Alonso always somehow seemed unattainable and that was what, since I was little, made me do everything possible to become an F1 driver and be like them.” And after the first handshake with the Kaiser or Fernando, in addition to the sound of the V10s, at 10 years old, he made a decision: “Dad, I want to be an F1 driver.” How naive I was - I had no idea how complicated and difficult it was going to be...”

Carlos Sainz: “My father saw that I had talent”

Carlos confesses that he was “very close to not making it” despite the fact that Sainz Sr. took him seriously “as soon as he saw that I was moving fast”. He adds, “Sometimes he says that I am better than him, but that’s a lie because he’s a legend. But I know he saw that I had talent.” Along the way, there were difficult moments: “Carrying inside your head that you are “the son of... ’ - having that extra pressure... Once you are alone in the car and it’s you against the world, it’s not so easy. I had a lot of mini complexes because you think that everyone is watching you because you are the ‘son of...’ and that means you’re always a little more careful.” And that was when he received the best advice from his father.

“I have always been quite innocent in my outlook,” he admits. “When I was younger, I tried to be too nice to everyone. I thought I was everyone’s friend but the racing world is a very cutthroat, very competitive. I went to kart races, I thought I was friends with everyone and they slagged me off...

“It was like, if you beat Carlos Sainz’s son, you can stand out. But one day my father sat me down and told me: ‘Life is very bitchy and in this sport, either you bite first, or they will bite you. Right now they are biting you, they are making your life difficult and when you put that helmet on, make sure that it is you who is the one who bites.’

“I knew that I couldn’t be afraid of being told that I was dirty on the track,” says Carlos, about that moment in which he changed his perspective to be one of those “20 competitive little animals” in an F1 , where “we all believe we are the best. And if it’s not like that, then you’re not going to beat the other 19″.