Carlos Sainz Jumps To Ferrari's Defence After Losing Another Key Director

Carlos Sainz has defended his Ferrari team after it was confirmed racing director Laurent Mekies will be moving to AlphaTauri to replace Franz Tost as team principal.

The news comes after the Maranello-squad also confirmed technical director David Sanchez's departure from the team. Ferrari has not had an ideal start to the season with Charles Leclerc unfortunately having to retire from the races in Bahrain and Australia. The team are currently sitting in fourth place in the constructors' standings with 26 points behind Mercedes who are in third with 56 points.

During the Azerbaijan Grand Prix drivers' press conference, Sainz spoke about Mekies leaving the team. He explained:

"Well personally, because I can only take from my personal experience, I think he is a great guy. He has taken a step up in his career, so I can only be happy for him.

"I think obviously when you are offered such an important role, you have to take it."

The Spanish driver went on to defend the team amid the various departures, saying that he sees "good things coming". He continued:

"We are also hiring staff, it's not like we are only losing staff.

"We are doing the best to restructure our team to make it stronger and I'm sure there's going to be people coming, people who will compensate for these last few losses.

"It's just sometimes the losses are quicker than what you manage to get back. But I'm quite confident in Fred's approach, the management and the way it is being handled, because I see good things coming."

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend kicks off tomorrow as the first race of the season to have the new sprint race format. On top of the changes to the sprint race, the FIA has also altered the second DRS zone to be 100m shorter.

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