from hospital bed to front row in Australia.......

March 23, MELBOURNE (Reuters) – After undergoing surgery for appendicitis just two weeks ago, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz will make a remarkable comeback to racing this Sunday by starting on the front row alongside pole-sitter Max Verstappen at the Australian Grand Prix.Due to a medical condition, the strong Spaniard was unable to participate in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. This week, he returned to the racetrack at Albert Park without having had any training since the surgery.
Despite not being fully healthy, he has hardly missed a beat in Melbourne and on Saturday, he could have stolen pole from Verstappen if not for a comparatively slow last sector on his final flying lap.

I’m not going to lie I’m not in my most comfortable state when I’m driving out there but I can get it done,” Sainz stated to reporters.

“”And as far as I can get it done without pain …. obviously (there is) a lot of discomfort and weird feelings, but no pain, so it allows me to push flat-out.”
When he finished first at Singapore in 2023, Sainz became the only driver who wasn’t sponsored by Red Bull to win a race.

SAINZ

Although Sainz’s quickest lap in Melbourne qualifying was only.5 seconds slower than Verstappen’s best, he said he might have been quicker if he had had more practice.

“To defeat Max these days, I believe you have to be at your best, and I wasn’t today. And I probably lost out on pole as a result of that,” he remarked.
“I will give it my absolute everything to do it because it’s been a while since Singapore, and he’s been on that top step since.”However, this is the one weekend where we’re moving at a good clip. Tough to pass on, difficult on the tires. Who knows, then? We could have a chance, in my opinion.”

Charles Leclerc, Sainz’s teammate, qualified fifth but was moved up to fourth after Red Bull’s Sergio Perez received a grid penalty.
Perez qualified third, but he will start sixth.
After leading the timesheets in the previous two practice sessions, Leclerc withdrew from the final run of the last session due to balancing issues during qualifying.

“All in all, not a clean qualifying,” he stated.

“I wasn’t really happy with the feeling of the car, but tomorrow it’s a long race.”I’ll concentrate on the first of the four DRS zones going forward in an effort to maximize the outcome.”
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Ian Ransom reported from Melbourne, while Pritha Sarkar handled the editing.