Carlos Sainz has revealed he was shocked to be shown a detailed analysis of his performances at previous teams when he joined Ferrari ahead of the 2021 season.
The current Williams driver was presented with the data by then-Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto and sporting director Laurent Mekies, who now head up Audi and Red Bull respectively.
Sainz arrived at the Maranello-based squad after spending two seasons at McLaren in 2019 and 2020 alongside Lando Norris.
Having entered his seventh F1 campaign with Ferrari, the Spaniard was left stunned by the sheer level of detail that had been compiled on him before his arrival.
"I remember when I went to Ferrari, Mattia [Binotto] and Laurent at the time presented me a document of all my performances for the last six years against team-mates," Sainz told media including RacingNews365.
"I was shocked with how much they knew. At McLaren, Renault, and Toro Rosso, I thought they wouldn't know.
"They had details of wet, dry-to-wet, dry, qualifying. They scouted me, and that's why they chose me.
"They then presented the statistics that they thought I could improve, and I was like 'It's the statistics also that I knew I had to improve'."
Sainz was one of several candidates in the frame to replace Sebastian Vettel when Ferrari announced a vacancy for 2021 before going on to spend four years with the team.
Having enjoyed his most successful years in F1 to date with Ferrari, Sainz believes it was the data that convinced the team to choose him.
"I was not entirely ready to see that teams were actually looking at the level of detail," he added.
"A team like Ferrari to scout me and choose me over Daniel Ricciardo or other contenders for the Ferrari seat would pick me, and I was impressed.
"I was happily impressed to see that top teams or teams with the tools to do that are able to see the level of detail that they see."
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