Sainz reveals 'world against me' feeling before his emotional Australian GP win

Carlos Sainz has described feeling like “the world had been a bit against me” during the opening months of the 2024 Formula 1 season, a period that combined the loss of his Ferrari seat to Lewis Hamilton with emergency surgery for appendicitis — and ended with a victory in Melbourne that he calls the proudest moment of his career.

Speaking to People Magazine while reflecting on photographs from his life and career, Sainz recalled how the turbulence began during the winter break when Hamilton’s shock move from Mercedes to Ferrari was confirmed, leaving the Spaniard without a drive for 2025. Despite that blow, Sainz said he produced one of the strongest starts of his career, finishing third in Bahrain and driving with consistent pace through the early rounds.

That momentum was then cut short at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, when he was hospitalised and required emergency surgery, forcing him to sit out the Jeddah race entirely.

“I think it was not so much the appendicitis itself and having to miss a race,” Sainz said. “I think it’s more the moment that it came in. It had just been announced that Lewis Hamilton would replace me at Ferrari. I had just done probably one of my best season starts, finishing third in Bahrain and driving really well all the beginning of the year. And suddenly, if it wasn’t enough during the winter with the bad news, on top of that this happened — and that made me miss a race. The effect that has on a championship battle, it felt like the world had been a bit against me the last few months.”

Just ten days after his operation, Sainz returned for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne and won the race — a result he frames not merely as a sporting achievement but as a personal statement.

“The good thing is 10 days later, this probably gave me the grit and passion and the will to come back from this, and yeah, I came back with a win,” he said. “That’s the most proud I felt as an athlete and as a human probably in my life.”

Sainz has since moved on from Ferrari, joining Williams for the 2025 season. The Australian GP victory, however, stands as one of the defining moments of his career — made more significant, he suggests, by everything that threatened to derail it.