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Leclerc learning from Sainz’s strengths
Charles Leclerc has taken in number lessons from Carlos Sainz after a year alongside the Spaniard at Ferrari in 2021.
Sainz joined from McLaren in place of Sebastian Vettel last year and duly impressed with a number of strong performances, capping his first season at Ferrari with a third place in Abu Dhabi en route fifth in the drivers’ championship. While Leclerc had two pole positions during 2021 and suffered more reliability issues, he says Sainz’s performance showed him plenty of ways to improve himself.
“I think we learned a lot,” Leclerc said. "As always when you have a new teammate, you always learn with just the new ways Carlos is approaching race weekends, the way he works, his talent, his raw speed also, the way he takes the corners… And he had an amazing year, so he has obviously pushed me very, very much to try and perform better at every race. It’s just been extremely interesting.
“I think maybe one of the strong points of Carlos is the race management and tire management, and that’s probably been my weakness (since) 2019. I’ve progressed a lot as a driver in 2020 and again (in 2021) and part of that is thanks to Carlos.”
The Ferrari drivers will get back behind the wheel of last year’s car this week at the Scuderia’s Fiorano test track, with a four-day test taking place as part of operational preparations for the new season. Test driver Robert Shwartzman will drive on Tuesday and Friday, with Leclerc in the car on Wednesday and Sainz set for Thursday.
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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