Melbourne [Australia], March 24 : The Australian Grand Prix champion Carlos Sainz admitted he could "barely move" before boarding his flight to Melbourne to complete a spectacular triumph on his comeback from surgery.
Sainz was ruled out of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix when he was forced to have an appendectomy the day before the race on March 8 and his participation in Australia was immediately called into question.
Just two weeks after missing the Saudi Arabia race due to appendicitis and needing surgery, Sainz challenged Max Verstappen for pole position at Albert Park and claimed the lead on the second lap as the Red Bull driver battled brake troubles.
The Ferrari driver was unsure whether his body could handle the rigours of the high-speed Albert Park Circuit when he got into the car for practice on Friday, but he gradually improved throughout the weekend before taking advantage of Max Verstappen's early retirement to win Sunday's race.
"Now, you ask me, nine days ago, when I was about to catch the flight to come to Australia, I was still in bed," Sainz said as quoted by Sky Sports.
"Barely I could use my abdominal to move. And I was like, this is not going to happen. But I took the flight, and suddenly when I landed in Australia, the feeling was a lot better. And every 24 hours, I was making a lot more progress than the first seven days, which is actually what all the doctors and all the professional people told me," he added.
Sainz had declined to discuss the treatment procedures he was employing to prepare for the race, although he did acknowledge that he had gone to many daily sessions in a hyperbaric chamber.
"As soon as I got my appendix removed, I went on the internet and started talking with professionals and said, 'okay, what helps to speed up recovery?" Sainz said.
"And obviously from that point onwards, I started doing all the sort of things that you can do to speed up recovery, the wounds, the scar tissue, what you can help to be faster on that, talking to other athletes, talking to other doctors in Spain, internationally. And then I put together a plan with my team," he added.
"The reason why athletes recover faster is because you can dedicate 24 hours per day for seven days to recovery. And that's exactly what I did. I started going to hyperbaric chambers twice a day for one hour, taking an Indiba machine, that is an electromagnetic thing for the wounds. I was programming my time in bed, my time to go for a walk, my time to eat, the kind of food that you have to recover. Just everything is centred around recovery to try to be ready for Australia," the Australian champion said.
Sainz stated that the shock of a planned contract renewal with Ferrari falling through made the outcome much more spectacular.
"I think it's not only the last two weeks. It's the whole start to the year in general, how the year started with the news of the non-renewal. Then you get yourself fit. You get yourself ready for the start of the season, pushing flat out. And then you get to Bahrain. You do a good podium. You say, 'okay, now the season is starting well and I can keep the momentum going,'" he said.
"And then suddenly you come back and win. So, yes, what I said on the radio - life is a rollercoaster sometimes, but it can be really nice and good to you sometimes. Just letting it sink in and enjoying the moment," Sainz said.
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