
The numbers that prove Monza 2023 was Sainz’s best F1 race weekend
OPINION: Having starred in the 2023 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was still charmingly modest in refusing to declare it his best overall weekend performance in the championship. But, aside from how his glorious defeat resonated with watching fans, there’s a key statistic that shows why it really was
To the Tifosi screaming his name underneath the Monza podium, he was a god. To the muggers he chased down on the streets of Milan later that night, he was justice incarnate. To the members of the Formula 1 press corps listening to his reflections on the 2023 Italian Grand Prix, he was the same charming, erudite, Carlos Sainz.
Was this his best F1 race weekend performance, I asked him? You know how his childhood-hero-turned-racing-rival Fernando Alonso would’ve answered. Sainz’s reply, wonderfully predictably, was as down-to-earth as ever.

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.
A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.
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