Carlos Sainz produced a masterclass at the Singapore Grand Prix this past weekend as he controlled the race from start to finish. Even though Mercedes rolled the dice with strategy and gave George Russell and Lewis Hamilton new tires to fight the Ferrari driver for the win, the Spaniard never looked troubled. Sainz’s victory also means that he is now ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc in the championship by 19 points. That’s not it, as the 29-year-old’s win also means that he is now being compared to Ferrari legend Gilles Villeneuve, whom Leclerc was previously compared with by former team principal Mattia Binotto.
While speaking to reporters last year, the Italian said (as quoted by planetf1.com), “It is something that I call essereFerrari, being Ferrari is trying to enhance the might of the Cavallino. There are only a few drivers who are capable of doing that and I think Charles is one of these, as was Gilles“.
Carlos Sainz steals the spotlight with a career-defining win in Singapore
Carlos Sainz silenced all his doubters this past weekend as he showed incredible grit and craft to execute Ferrari’s strategy to perfection to register his first win of the 2023 season. The Spaniard’s win at the Marina Bay Street Circuit was very similar to the way Gilles Villeneuve won for Ferrari back in 1981.
According to gazzetta.it, the victories of both Sainz and Villeneuve are very similar because of the tight margins of their wins. Both the Spaniard and the Canadian won their respective races by the same margin of 1.2 seconds from their nearest rivals. Villeneuve beat Jacques Laffite to the win, while Sainz beat Lando Norris.
With Sainz now winning in Singapore, former Benetton mechanic Joan Villadelprat has claimed that the Spaniard has now stolen the spotlight that Leclerc previously had at Ferrari. Many previously believed that the Prancing Horse considered the Monegasque to be the “pretty boy” of the team, but as per Villadelprat, that is no longer the case.
Villadelprat believes Sainz has now proven himself
According to El Confidencial, Joan Villadelprat said, “First, it silences some voices from Ferrari, which makes us rethink that perhaps Leclerc is the pretty boy, but perhaps he is not so pretty and there are others just as pretty. Well, Leclerc is no longer so magical, because Carlos has shown him that a turn can also be fast“.
With Carlos Sainz having outclassed him in Singapore, Charles Leclerc will now hope to fight back against the Spaniard at the Japanese Grand Prix later this weekend. The race at Suzuka will take place from September 22 to 24.
