'Clear That Leclerc Has A Bit More Talent' Compared To Sainz Says Former F1 Driver Irvine

Thursday, 01 February 2024 at 09:00

According to former F1 driver, Eddie Irvine, it's "clear" that Charles Leclerc is more talented than his teammate Carlos Sainz.

Ferrari has one of the strongest driver duos on the F1 grid, as their two drivers seem to be equally matched most of the time. Last season, they were separated only by six points in the World Drivers' Championship, but the situation doesn't bring only positives.

Quite often, the team faces a difficult decision, when they have to prioritize one of the drivers during a race, and since their status in the team is equal, it may be difficult to make a decision.

Therefore, their qualities are often compared, even though it's clear that Ferrari plans to build on Leclerc in the future, as he was also the first one to extend his contract with the Italian team.

According to former F1 driver and 1999 World Drivers' Championship runner-up Eddie Irvine, who spoke to La Gazzetta, it's clear that the Monegasque driver has "a bit more talent."

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"It’s clear that Leclerc has a bit more talent. Sainz had good races, he has won, and he was competitive compared to his team-mate, but Charles is clearly the better of the two."

However, even if Leclerc had more talent, he failed to prove it on the race track over the past couple of seasons, when Ferrari had arguably the biggest chance to challenge for race wins, and possibly Championship in 2022.

According to Irvine, even though he couldn't back up his talent with results in the recent seasons, once he got a competitive car in 2023, he clearly showed that he was the better driver.

"The fact that he lacked success last year doesn’t change my opinion. At the end of the season, when the car improved, the Monegasque showed all his value."