No query about it; Charles Leclerc eclipsed Carlos Sainz at Ferrari once more of their second Components 1 season collectively.
However this wasn’t a clear-cut primary/quantity two driver scale of distinction, equivalent to seen at Crimson Bull between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. It was, nonetheless, larger than any distinction between the Mercedes drivers. That is mirrored not simply within the respective closing factors in every pair of team-mates, but in addition of their underling relative pace.
Simply as in 2021, Sainz was rather more aggressive within the latter a part of the season than the primary. The oversteering traits of the Ferrari F1-75, and the way Leclerc instantly discovered a means of overlapping his throttle and braking which the automobile very a lot responded to, left Sainz initially uncomprehending. The hole which he had all-but closed utterly by the tip of ’21 was all of the sudden greater than ever into the brand new season.
This in fact was when the Ferrari was at its best, and in that first half-season Leclerc set that glittering collection of pole positions which, had been it not for unreliability and dangerous technique calls, may need allowed him to have taken as many as 5 successive grands prix wins along with the 2 he gained within the opening three races.
Sainz was nowhere close to that stage of efficiency at the moment. By the point he had closed the efficiency hole right down to Leclerc, the Ferrari had been overtaken because the quickest automobile by the Crimson Bull. Therefore Leclerc’s first half-season benefit carried rather more weight than Sainz’s latter-season closeness.
Sainz didn’t start to get a correct deal with on the calls for of the automobile till July. From the British Grand Prix onwards he was extremely aggressive with Leclerc by way of underlying efficiency though three non-scores (Austria turbo failure, Japan aquaplaning accident and United States assault by George Russell) in distinction with only one from Leclerc (his crashing out in France) nonetheless closely favoured Leclerc’s factors comparability.
Taking out all of the moist qualifying classes and people the place a good comparability can’t be made (normally as a result of one in all them was taking an engine penalty), Leclerc outqualified Sainz 10-3 by a median of 0.1521% (which interprets to 0.126s relative to the typical dry pole place lap of 1m22.737s ). Final 12 months Leclerc was forward 10-5 in qualifying by a median of 0.1433% (translating to 0.113s). How the ’22 hole stands within the league desk of team-mates could be seen beneath:
| Driver 1 | Rating | Driver 2 | Proportion hole | Time equal |
| Albon | 12-0 | Latifi | 0.47% | 0.390s |
| Verstappen | 14-3 | Perez | 0.40% | 0.331s |
| Norris | 14-1 | Ricciardo | 0.35% | 0.294s |
| Bottas | 9-3 | Zhou | 0.34% | 0.281s |
| Magnussen | 10-5 | Schumacher | 0.18% | 0.146s |
| De Vries | 1-0 | Latifi | 0.16% | 0.134s |
| Vettel | 7-6 | Stroll | 0.16% | 0.129s |
| Leclerc | 10-3 | Sainz | 0.15% | 0.126s |
| Gasly | 7-5 | Tsunoda | 0.13% | 0.105s |
| Alonso | 7-6 | Ocon | 0.06% | 0.049s |
| Stroll | 1-1 | Hulkenberg | 0.02%* | 0.018s* |
| Hamilton | 11-5 | Russell | 0.01% | 0.012s |
* Stroll forward of Hulkenberg
If we dig somewhat deeper into the Leclerc-Sainz qualifying match-up, there have been 13 races through which a good comparability might be made. Taking the primary seven of them and evaluating them to the latter six, we will see fairly clearly how considerably Sainz turned issues round:
First 7 comparability races (Bahrain, Saudi, Miami, Spain, Monaco, Azerbaijan, Austria)
Leclerc 7-0 forward in qualifying by a median of 0.2758% (0.228s)
Second 6 comparability races (Hungary, Monza, Japan, Austin, Mexico, Abu Dhabi)
Leclerc 3-3 Sainz. Leclerc forward by 0.008% (0.003s)
That is remarkably much like the sample between them in 2021 (Sainz’s first season with the workforce), when the rating was 6-1 in Leclerc’s favour within the first seven races and 4-3 in Sainz’s favour within the subsequent seven (however with Leclerc nonetheless marginally sooner as a median).
Leclerc’s sturdy begin and Sainz’s battle outlined which ones was the workforce’s title contender and which might solely be within the position of assist. As Sainz pushed himself to close down that efficiency deficit, so he often bought himself into bother.
In Australia a horrible mixture of occasions (a crimson flag simply as he was about to set a aggressive qualifying time, which left him in ninth, then a steering wheel downside resulting in a poor begin) put him out of place on a humid observe on arduous tyres and he threw it into the gravel lure only a few minutes in. Apply accidents at Imola and Miami informed of how arduous he was making an attempt.
“This 12 months, my begin of the season put me 50 factors behind immediately and it’s troublesome to make your self appear to be a championship contender if you find yourself minus-50,” he mentioned in abstract of his season.
“However for those who look carefully at the previous few races, I’m acting at a really comparable stage to the highest guys. I really feel like I’m there. It’s simply that worth I paid at first of the season is costing me this 12 months.”
Not that his latter half of Sainz’s season was excellent. His battle within the intermediates section in Singapore was untypical of his profession and his disastrous aquaplaning off in Japan was unlucky.
However it was removed from a horror season for him. He did, in any case, rating his first grand prix victory (at Silverstone) and set his first profession pole positions (Silverstone and Austin). That is the primary time in his eight-year F1 profession when he has been in a automobile able to successful races and setting poles – and he did each.
That Silverstone victory additionally highlighted a specific energy of his in studying a race and being proactive in serving to the workforce make tough choices. His calling of the tyres in Monaco, the restart strategy in Britain and his refusal to take inters at first of Q3 in Brazil all highlighted this trait. By comparability, Leclerc was extra passive and suffered by it.
Leclerc stays a fully sensible high-wire performer, who can take a automobile to the outer margins and produce an unreal qualifying lap. The lap he was about to finish in Monaco when the crimson flags got here out would have stood as one of many all-time nice ones. He’s additionally able to strikes equivalent to going across the exterior of Lewis Hamilton at Copse on previous tyres.
Alongside possibly probably the most thrilling performer on the grid, Sainz has once more come off second-best nevertheless it’s to his credit score that he might even make a combat of it.