A red derby that fuels world championship dreams
Carlos Sainz Ever since he was announced as a future Ferrari driver in 2020, he has stressed that he would not come to Maranello to be a wingman. The Spaniard demonstrated this with facts in 2021 by finishing ahead of Leclerc in the Drivers' standings. In 2022 the Monegasque's start with the new ground effect cars was burning, but after Sainz's success in Melbourne the ratio is now three victories each.
In the weekends in which he has taken part for now Sainz always finished ahead of Leclerc in the race, although in Bahrain the duel was not on equal terms as the Monegasque suffered from front brake problems. In Australia, however, Sainz preceded his boxing partner both in Qualifying – Leclerc's home specialty – and in the race.
In the press conference, Charles Leclerc underlined that since he has been Carlos Sainz's teammate, the two have pushed each other to improve, a dynamic from which Ferrari benefits: “Carlos had a better weekend than me in Australia, I wasn't perfect either in qualifying or in the second stint of the race where I had more tire degradation than expected. Basically it's been three years since a race comes along in which Sainz beats me and then I push to beat him in the next one. This way we improve. It's very stimulating to have a boxing partner like Sainz.”
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