Sainz convinced Monza win was “basically impossible” for McLaren

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In the round-up: Carlos Sainz Jnr is convinced he couldn’t have done any more to win the Italian Grand Prix, which Pierre Gasly beat him to by 0.415 seconds.

What they say

Sainz said he studied the race closely before arriving at Mugello for the ninth round of the championship:

Since the race happened my main focus has been what I could have had done differently to win and how if the opportunity comes again what I’m going to try to do if I want to win.

But the more I looked at it, the more I came to a conclusion that it was basically impossible to do anything different.

We left everything on the table. We pushed as hard as I could as well as managing the tyres to the limit. We drained all of our battery to try and catch Pierre. We didn’t leave anything on the table.

So actually that’s why I guess on Sunday I was frustrated because normally you look back and you say ‘I could have done this, I could have done that’. But honestly, the team and I had a very strong day that day, and I’m pretty sure it was impossible or nearly impossible to win.

So that second place starts to feel better when you look back and you realise you’re couldn’t have done much differently. I just gave it all and it couldn’t happen.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Formula 1’s $200 million anti-dilution fee, which new teams will have to pay from next year, has its equivalent in other sports, says Leroy:

In North American professional sports it’s not unusual to charge a franchise fee to new entrants. For example, the last new team to join the NFL had to pay a $700 million franchise fee.

However, there is a big difference in that North American sports teams get a far better distribution of money related television rights and licensing deals (NFL teams get an even split of the $8.1 billion from TV and various license fees) and get 100% of the ticket sale money as well as a chunk of the concession money when events are hosted at their stadiums.

As far as I am aware, only Red Bull own and operate a F1 track where they can make money from ticket sales and concessions (which then get used to pay the event fee, something which North American sports teams do not have to pay but also the travel between events is not as complex as in F1).
Leroy (@G-funk)

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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23 comments on “Sainz convinced Monza win was “basically impossible” for McLaren”

  1. I understand that is their business, so in reality their only purpose to exist, but I am amazed on how ByKolles are able to continue have a (dog of a) car and participate in the WEC year after year.

    1. @bakano it’s in part because of the slow evolution of the chassis regulations and the fact that the LMP2 category, from which the ByKolles car was converted (their CLM P1/01 was just a converted Lotus T128 LMP2 chassis), was required to build a monocoque to the same regulations as the LMP1 category.

      The Balance of Performance regulations also help out with that too, since it means that even an ageing car can be kept competitive by performance balance tweaks. As a result, for a long time they could just keep on using the same chassis, updated to meet the latest regulations, for multiple years in a row.

  2. More like didn’t leave anything on the table. ‘Left everything on the table’ is a bit misleading from him.

    1. @jerejj Maybe he’s talking about poker table not dining.

      1. @ruliemaulana Could be.
        @fer-no65 True, but this is true for most current drivers. Only six (or seven depending on which one of Canada’s two official languages comes first for Stroll) speak English as their first language.
        @gongtong No, I’m not Spanish, LOL.

        1. @jerejj your point being? He made a mistake on that figure of speech, a very common mistake.

    2. @jerejj english is not his native language, man…

      1. He covered all options, by saying it both ways. Clever chap.

        @fer-no65 , I always assumed @jerejj was Spanish too… I’ve been pronouncing it Herra-he-he when I read his posts…

    3. Sainz is the greatest driver of all time…

      1. Which one.?

  3. Horner: “He is also the first Thai driver to stand on the podium and the first from that side of the garage since Daniel won Monaco in 2018, so he has achieved something great for his car crew.

    This reminds me of Nico crew that been assigned to Lewis and back. It’s okay to have garages competition but working on losing side for a long time could be depressing. It was not their fault that their drivers can’t beat Max.

  4. @cotd This franchise model is part of the reason US-“sports” don’t feel like real sports-leagues to europeans. It has a full disconnect to the grassroots rather than a continuous system that is at least theoretically allowing teams to climb the ladder through results of sporting achievements. Now that has always been a bit different in motorsports, as there is no promotion/relegation system as in most popular teamsports, no system of qualification tournaments as in tennis, no elo-ranking or anything similar. Still, Tyrrell started in Formula 3, Zakspeed in the DRM, Sauber came from sportscar racing, and so on. With the franchise-concept as opposed to a sporting concept, any newcomers to F1 will not come from sportsmen, motorsport enthusiasts, but from franchise takers, businessmen. Nobody likes businessmen.

    1. Michael Counsell
      19th September 2020, 14:03

      In many ways I preferred the lineups from the late 90s most of the teams (including their names) had histories going back into other formulas. Very few were car manufacturer owned (Ferrari) or owned by another brand (Benneton) and the vast majority of the teams had roots in junior formulas and were usually named after the owner/founders.

      1. Michael Counsell
        19th September 2020, 14:13

        With a privateer team you know they are throwing everything at trying to win. With a manufacturer or other company owned team you know they are deciding how much to spend and their success is related to the companies level of commitment.

        1. Exactly. Get a few just out of college technicians and engineers. Throw all your ideas into your F1 project. Cuts and bruises. Many a sleepless nights. Hanging out in the woods to avoid your creditors. The guy changing the wheelnuts might just be the co-owner.
          F1 has gone the monthly software rental route. They don’t want any unpredictability. The inspiring story of the underdog that beat the establishment.
          I wonder how long before we have the crew changing the tyres now obligated to wear suits and ties.

  5. Good comparison in the CotD of the F1 franchise fee to the NFL.
    Sharing $8B between 32 teams is better than $1B between 10 teams. But at $200M it seems a better investment than the $700M in the NFL.
    And interestingly in NFL (with the large squads) the salary cap is bigger than the cost cap in F1. And a car can take more sponsorship than a jersey.

    1. @coldfly – You would pay back that initial investment one year sooner, but after that you’d be making only $100m/yr while the NFL team would be making $250m/yr. On an investment, I’d go NFL (and I do not watch the NFL nor care about them).

      NFL stadium gets sponsorship, not the jersey. But there are jersey sales too, and hats, etc.

      1. the NFL team would be making $250m/yr

        Then I’d buy 3 F1 teams*; spend $100M less and get $300M/year ;)
        @hobo
        Maybe spend the $100M on a circuit to get the ‘stadium’ sponsorship after plastering my 6 cars full with paid decals ;))
        * If I buy the teams in separate steps I get 9% and 17% back on the 2nd and 3rd purchase respectively ;)))

  6. Im sure a better driver would have won

  7. Excellent news about the BTCC staying on free to air here in the UK. The full day live coverage of the three races AND all of the support categories (Ginettas, Porsches etc) is well presented and very watchable. The highlight show is also well produced.

    Glad to see that is not going behind a paywall.

    1. Yep, good chance to see up-and-coming drivers and normally guaranteed at least a few action packed races.

  8. So Sainz had yet another great performance according to Carlos Sainz. This guy can really talk himself up. Was his dad like this too?

  9. If we take a look at how difficult time the overall best construction had overtaking even midfield cars in Monza, even if there had been many more laps left, there’s just no way two midfield cars could have negotiated a place swap without a mistake from the driver in front.

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