“He’s much slower on the straights and faster on the corners”- Is Charles Leclerc actually faster than his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz?

Carlos Sainz finished ahead of Charles Leclerc in his debut season at Ferrari in 2021, but this campaign has been a different story. 

Sainz arrived in Ferrari after spending two great seasons with McLaren. In his first season, he finished ahead of Leclerc, which surprised many people as the Monegasque had been a star in the team for a long time.

2022 however, has seen a major shift in dynamic. Sainz is struggling to get to pace with the F1-75, whereas Leclerc finds himself in the middle of a Championship battle. In fact, he was 40 points ahead of Max Verstappen at one stage of the season, before a mixture of bad luck and poor decision making on Ferrari’s part saw him give up the lead.

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— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) June 9, 2022

Sainz meanwhile endured very tough few few weeks, which started with two back to back DNFs in Melbourne and Imola. He bounced back with a well earned P2 finish in Monaco, but being fifth in the standings still feels like underperforming on his part.

A data driven comparison shows the difference between Leclerc and Sainz’s driving style.

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Why Charles Leclerc is performing better than Carlos Sainz in the F1-75

Leclerc and Sainz have very different driving styles, which was interpreted in a detailed way using statistics. It appears that Sainz has a higher top speed at the end of the straights, whereas he struggles with pace in the corners.

This could be due to the fact that Sainz probably runs a car with lesser downforce than that of his teammate’s. A video comparison also highlights that Sainz handles the car more smoothly around the corners, whereas Leclerc brakes abruptly.

Leclerc is also able to maintain the stability in the rear end of his car, by forcing it to understeer at the exact right moment where he does not lose the rear end. This allows him to approach the corners with higher speed than that of Leclerc.

Sainz taking his car smoothly into the corners, allows him to maintain stability. Leclerc does so more abruptly, but it also leads to him maintaining a wider line on the exit, allowing better traction.

The 24-year old has an advantage over Sainz mainly due to his strong performance in the low-speed corners.

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