Carlos Sainz Jnr, Ferrari, 2020

Sainz: It will be tough to match “great talent” Leclerc

RaceFans Round-up

Posted on

| Written by

In the round-up: Carlos Sainz Jnr says it will be difficult to match his new team mate Charles Leclerc initially due to the limited amount of running allowed before the 2021 F1 season.

What they say

Sainz has already had a seat fitting for Ferrari, who he will drive for next year:

I think we will get along well. I already have some contact and I do get on with Charles already, we’ve been talking already the last few months a bit.

He’s a great talent. I think he’s driving at an incredible level right now. He’s performing, for me, one of the best on the grid right now. So it will be tough to match him, especially at the beginning, without any winter testing and anything. The relationship with him, I will try and keep it as professional as possible. And then if we obviously get on well outside the track, I’m happy with that.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Social media

Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Comment of the day

Joao would like to see the empty slot on the 2021 F1 calendar filled by Portugal’s track, except for one significant drawback.

For me the right choice would have been Portimao.

However considering that there are some people still trying to get out of the parking lot I can’t say I’m surprised.
Joao (@Johnmilk)

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Journeyer, Naz3012, Rick and Liam Stroud!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

  • Born today in 1956: Francois Hesnault, the last driver to start a race as a third entrant for a team, driving a year-old Renault at the 1985 German Grand Prix, having been dropped by Brabham earlier in the year

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

40 comments on “Sainz: It will be tough to match “great talent” Leclerc”

  1. More like rules bent to let a black dude into the club. Hamilton should tell them where to stick their knighthood.

    1. Sir Learie Constantine (in 1962), Sir Garfield Sobers (in 1975) and Sir Clive Lloyd (in 2020) are all in ‘the club’ so your racist suggestion is pure drivel.

      1. You’re just making my point if those are the only three. What joke a knighthood is.

        1. You know that knighoods are balls anyway, that’s without even considering race or gender, or anything. I have respect for anyone who turns them down

        2. To be fair there isn’t just those 3 and in fact the number of black people honored is comparable to the population
          https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/culture-and-community/civic-participation/honours-recipients/latest

          1. Thank you for actually looking things up and bringing facts to the discussion there @slowmo

  2. Leclerc will destroy Sainz I think.

    1. @deanfranklin agree.
      Carlos is going to make sure we all emember the times he finishes ahead of Charles. I’m sure by the end of the season we will still read about how incredible Carlos is…

    2. @deanfranklin Surely, which will hopefully make more stop underestimating Leclerc. But then he doesn’t hype himself up like for example Sainz and some people tend to fall for that stuff.

    3. @deanfranklin I think Leclerc has much more to lose next year than sainz. If Sainz is close enough to Leclerc there could be a chance that Leclerc could start feeling more pressure. This year Vettel wasn’t a real challenger for him and Charles’ only real opponent was that car. I’m not saying that Leclerc is slower than it seems but Sainz doesn’t have so much pressure to finish in the top 3 than Charles. If Sainz is even able to challenge Leclerc sometimes then I just hope Charles can keep his head cool and get those valuable podiums and points for himself and team.

      Of course Leclerc went against Hamilton in last years italian GP so he has it what it takes but beating a team mate is a different thing.

      1. @qeki I would say the pressure is all on Sainz. He had trouble with a rookie at McLaren and now has only 2 years to make a legacy in F1 and against one of the best of the era, that will surely not happen.

        The only thing in his favor is that Ferrari might not have anybody better to replace him with, and seem keen on driver continuity so he might get some years after that, and then he can talk up those odd races he did well and be happy with that.

        1. @balue why the unnecessarily overdramatic statement that he only “has only 2 years to make a legacy in F1” – why does a 26 year old driver “only” have 2 years to make a legacy?

          1. Because as you must surely know, drivers are out of F1 before they have even got going. Look for example at Russell who was in doubt for next year, but was lucky to extend at a backmarker team.

            Sainz’ time is soon up, and has been lucky to make it this far tbh.

            Now he got a couple of years in a ‘top team’ against a rated driver to show his mettle and that’s probably that. Even if he is allowed to continue, it will likely still be against Leclerc and an even longer period being outscored will just hurt his legacy even more.

          2. @balue your posts still come across as unnecessarily hyperbolic with the whole drama about “Sainz’s legacy” and dire predictions that “his time is up soon” – it’s not like Sainz had a chronic disease that means he’s going to die in two years time.

            As for Russell, most credible sources agree that he never really was in doubt for next year and it was a case of the dodgier reporters basically seizing on some laxly phrased comments by Roberts to make up that story – so that’s actually a fairly terrible example to use.

    4. @deanfranklin

      Maybe not as badly as he destroyed Vettel.. but yes I think Sainz will be outperformed by Leclerc by a bigger marhin than he was outperformed by the Huilk.

    5. I think the opposite. Sainz is always great at and far more mature in sport politics while Leclerc keep blaming himself. So mentally, Sainz was more ready at Ferrari and won’t easily break under harsh Italian media and managerial swing mood. On the other hand, Leclerc would be destroyed if for some reason the team back Sainz more.

  3. Why are we still talking about this Knight Hood stuff.
    You know who deserves a knighthood before Lewis, all those healthcare workers that put their lives on the line during this pandemic, or ones that actually made some real sacrifices like soldiers, police,… the ones that kept Everyone safe and gave limb or life.

    1. Because you’re on a race fans site and not a overall news site. Not every post or comment have to be about Covid-19.

      1. I guess though that Covid-19 is more relevant to the sport and most fans than a UK knighthood.

        1. Yes, exactly!

  4. Oh yeah Pat? How many championships did Webber win?

    1. almost four… according to some that is ;)

  5. @us-brian
    Awards like Knighthood also serve to honor the people who bestow them. Knighthood is the perfect example since the person receiving the honor kneels.

    I view Johnson’s personal involvement as proving this point, but I don’t know enough about British politics to understand it beyond getting some happy photos with a beloved athlete.

    I appreciate your view that healthcare workers and others deserve it more. I don’t hold it against Hamilton. I’m glad to see him get his too.

    1. @slotopen

      No, it’s mostly a way for the elite to build up their network. That’s why Harvey Weinstein got a CBE, just for making movies in Britain and with British actors. The elites pretend that it’s just an honor, because they prefer that regular people don’t notice all the shenanigans that go on.

  6. Symonds must be losing it if he now has Webber as someone on the level of Schumacher when it comes to get a team behind him, when it was obviously not as we saw with the front wing and multi-21 saga at Red Bull proving it was Vettel who was doing the rallying.

    1. @balue That caught my eye too. Unfortunately my german is limited to auf wiedersehen.

    2. @balue
      Totally agree, Webber has no business in leading a team as MS used to do. I think he was brilliant at exposing RBR favouritism tactics with Vettel in front of the media. Since, he enjoyed a special relationship with Dietrich Mateschitz he couldn’t care less for what Christian Horner and Helmut Marko think which was fun to watch at the time.

    3. Yeah, Symonds did not really offer any arguments to support his view, just stated that Webber had the ability to rally the team (whatever that means, maybe just his side of the garage?) behind him.

    4. Casual reminder that Multi-21 means “we want Seb to stay behind Mark” so not the best example to show Seb favoritism by Red Bull

      1. @paeschli Yes, but Vettel could break it with impunity and without consequences as he was fully confident of his standing and position in the team.

  7. Sainz getting ready to fulfill his Massa role. Hopefully he will last some years and win one occaissionally when Charles has technical issues. I fear Carlos made this move way too early in his career.

  8. It won’t be easy with Charles.

  9. COTD: I like the sarcasm in the second phrase, but yes, I agree. The Imola track is more accessible than the Algarve one location-wise. Probably also compared to Mugello as the Mugello circuit’s location is quite remote as well.

  10. Ultimately Sainz is either good enough or he’s not, he has to believe he can beat Leclerc if he wants to win the title so why avoid the match up, it makes no sense.

    There are other drivers who have made similar jumps in the past such as Leclerc himself for example and it turned out great for them. I would largely focus on the Sainz from his first Torro Rosso year and his Mclaren years as they were the times he felt the team believed in him and was full of confidence. The Renault years he had just had to find any team that would take him having been overlooked by Red Bull which had to hurt him.

    I think Sainz will silence some of his critics next year.

    1. Really I would think that Sainz can only gain from the comparision @slowmo. Clearly everyone expects Leclerc to have him beaten from the go, since the team is formed around the hugely talented driver with a long term contract, while Sainz is just brought in to be the support crew.

      So unless Sainz ends up being beaten by Charles as much as Vettel was nowhere this year he will already have done at least a solid job. And if he gets close, we can all be happy that Ferrari have a decent line up if they manage to build a halfway competative car to get results out of.

    2. He doesnt need to be good. Just better than Vettel to get points in. If anything they do not want him to be near Charles

  11. If Sainz just doesn’t crash as often as Leclerc, he will do fine.

  12. Rules bent to favor Him, oh what a surprise! [/sarcasm]

Comments are closed.