Carlos Sainz arrived in Scuderia Ferrari at the start of the 2021 Formula 1 season as a “team man”, the perfect companion alongside the “predestined” Charles Leclerc. The period of Mercedes domination and the growth of Red Bull show that concentrating the project and the attention on a single driver is often the best strategy to reach the top and, when Charles Leclerc took this role by beating Sebastian Vettel, in Maranello they knew that they should look for a Barrichello or a Bottas to be part of the revival project.
Carlos Sainz seemed perfect, an intelligent driver, expert and very skilled in race management (which at times was Charles Leclerc’s weak point). The Spanish driver was often seen talking a lot with the engineers for the quick setup of the set-ups, he has always been consistent but without exceeding the limits of the car or causing accidents which, with the new budget cap, become a serious problem also for the development possibilities of the car.
At the start of the 2021 campain, Ferrari believed they had found the perfect wingman, waiting to be able to bring a winning car to the track and be able to promote Mick Schumacher to the first team whose surname echoes victories and emotions.
But then something happened that few expected: race after race, Carlos Sainz showed not only consistency and reliability, but also proved to b tremendously fast and smart. He did not miss any chance in the race and above all began to get close to Charles Leclerc even on the flying lap in qualifying, a context in which the Monegasque driver seemed unreachable even according to the Spanish driver himself.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma!
In practice, at the end of the season the two are the same level, but in the final round of the 2021 season, Carlos secured a great podium finish and managed to overtake Charles in the standings, finishing in fifth place.
An unexpected situation in which perhaps Ferrari did not want to find itself. Having two first drivers could reserve some problems, even if the relationship between the two teammates seems excellent both on and off the track, and both often claim to have learned a lot from each other.
Italian former Formula One driver Ivan Capelli, who joined the Maranello team in 1992 but struggled to integrate with the bureaucratic structure of early 1990s Ferrari, admitted that he would not establish a hierarchy between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz ahead of the 2022 Formula 1 championship, leaving this task to be decided on track: “Ferrari must prepare to manage two drivers with the same ambitions and the same chances of winning – he said, as reported by Italian daily newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport – “it is us Italians who think we need a hierarchy, the British teams have often put two stars on the track, I am thinking of Mansell-Piquet at Williams or Senna-Prost in McLaren. The way the season progresses will determine on track this hierarchy.” – the former Ferrari driver concluded.
Leave a Reply