Carlos Sainz lauds teammate Charles Leclerc as one of the 'greats'

Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz feels that there are very few drivers in Formula 1 faster than his Maranello teammate Charles Leclerc. The Spaniard, who moved to the Italian side at the start of the 2021 championship, had a positive first year with the Maranello marque, up to the point of finishing ahead of his highly-rated Monegasque teammate.

The former McLaren driver signed for Scuderia Ferrari in order to replace four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel, and many expected him to have mainly a supporting role to Charles Leclerc. Yet the Spanish driver proved his doubters wrong and impressed during his first campaign, scoring four podiums to Charles Leclerc’s one in 2021, results that allowed him to finish fifth in the Drivers’ Championship.

Despite out performing his teammate on race days, Carlos Sainz admitted to being a huge admirer of Charles Leclerc’s ability to combine speed and hard work. The Spaniard believes that there are very few drivers in Formula 1 that have the speed Charles Leclerc displays, especially over one lap.

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“Without any doubt, he is one of the greats. He is a specialist in many things and works much harder than people think,” Sainz told AS. “He has the complete package of speed, hard work and consistency, I doubt there are drivers driving in Formula 1 who are much faster than him.” – he explained.

Charles Leclec was certainly disappointed to end the 2021 Formula 1 championship only seventh, especially taking into consideration the fact that he had a slight advantage over teammare Carlos Sainz and McLaren’s Lando Norris ahead of the last race of the season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. At the same time, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto pointed out that Charles lost at least 40 points during the season due to the fact that he was not able to take part in the Monaco Grand Prix and was forced to retire on lap 1 of the Hungarian Grand Prix after being hit by Lance Stroll.