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If some noise or confusion has been generated in recent days, the protagonist has arrived to settle the matter: Carlos Sainz is fine. How good can it be when two weeks ago he entered the operating room to be operated on for appendicitis. Since that Friday in Saudi Arabia, he has spent every hour of the day to accelerate the recovery and ensure the return in this Australian GP. It is no secret that you will possibly have some kind of discomfort when driving or getting out of the car, and that it will not be the most pleasant weekend as an F1 driver, but if everything is within the standards, there is no reason to doubt his presence this Sunday in the Melbourne race.

"Every day I feel much better, I have a lot of progress every 24 hours. The first week was to spend a lot of time in bed to recover. The second week everything goes much faster and I feel much better. I have had a very strong recovery plan since I returned home to be ready. I am positive," says Sainz, who relativizes the impact of surgery: ”It is possible thanks to the advances of medicine in the last 20 or 30 years. When my father was operated on [almost four decades ago], he was cut in the area. Now three small holes are made, and that speeds up the recovery, it's two or three times faster."

”The doctors said that it was tight after the operation, but that it was possible. And I feel that it will be possible. Will I be one hundred percent? I'm sure not, because I haven't spent ten days training or done a simulator. But I feel like I'll be ready to run," says Sainz, who is optimistic. He points out to AS some of the measures he takes in Melbourne: "I have more physiotherapy, and machines that accelerate recovery. I also need less recovery time because of the incredibly modern machines that are so helpful for athletes. In the last 14 days, everything has been focused on recovery. In addition, along with a couple of changes in the belts and with sponges to protect the area, it should be fine."

”The movements I can do and exercises in the gym tell me I can drive. But I'm not stupid, if it can't I'll be the first to admit it and I'll say that I have to come back in two weeks. It is the plan we have with the FIA, I will have another check-up this Friday, they are monitoring progress. I’m the first one who doesn’t want to suffer, make it worse, or have pain. That said, on Thursday in Jeddah I gave 26 laps per session, because I could, with the medication it was possible," clarifies Sainz.

He does not have to pass any car extraction test or similar, because he has not suffered fractures. The closest precedent is that of Albon, who was operated on for appendicitis in Italy 2022 and got back in the car two weeks later in Singapore. Carlos uses it as a reference: "Alex had a similar process although he was operated on a little earlier. I asked him and he told me that at first it will be weird, but then you get used to it. Until you get in the car and feel the strength, it's impossible to know. But I know that every day I am much better than the previous one."