When Ferrari thought of its ideal plan for 2024, it wouldn’t have gone along with it if it had dumped the second-best driver on the grid.
Carlos Sainz has continued his inspired form into 2024, and not even an exploding appendix can stop him.
The Ferrari man, who took another podium in Japan and put in a performance that proved his extreme confidence in his abilities, was the last of the front runners to pit for the third time, but was far behind in the standings. When he surfaced below, there was no room for doubt. He will launch it in the near future.
That was also clear to Charles Leclerc and his race engineer. In Leclerc’s defense, he had a great race of his own and was the only driver to finish in the points with an effective one-stopper, but there was little he could do to stop Sainz from overtaking him.
And that became the main topic of the season. Sainz has a 2-1 lead in head-to-head qualifying and a 3-0 lead in the race. Had Sainz not been forced to miss out in Saudi Arabia, he would likely finish second in the standings and aim for his best season ever.
At the beginning of the season I expected the Ferrari battle to be one of the most exciting on the grid, but since then it has been clearly one-sided. The question is, what can Leclerc do to halt the upward trend? Sainz has already completed his first season and looks set to do the same in his final year with the team.
Ferrari will never admit it, but they’re probably thinking, “What have we done?” Not only considering how well Sainz is doing, but also compared to the problems Lewis Hamilton is having.
Recommended by PlanetF1.com
F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates
F1 2024: Qualifying results between teammates
At Suzuka, Hamilton often appears to be a depressed man and at odds with his team. There has always been confusion as to how he lost so much time, and disagreements over strategy, resulting in a ninth-place finish, his worst of the year apart from a DNF in Australia.
But for Sainz, he has made himself F1’s most notable asset. His calmness after the race was Verstappen-like in that he was happy with his success. Sainz has a wealth of form and if it wasn’t for the Dutchman, he would definitely be in the equation for the title.
As things stand, the title remains in Verstappen’s hands, but Sainz will know that other titles are up for grabs.
Read next: Max Verstappen back on cruise control as Daniel Ricciardo’s nightmare continues
