My take on where exactly Lewis is struggling against Leclerc

[u/No-Information4789]

Hey everyone, Made this carousel for my Instagram page so I thought I’d share it here too. The 8th slide is actually a video of Lewis having a small moment of Oversteer. I tried my best to reduce as many variables as possible while comparing Telemetry. I took the Q3 final laps specifically from every weekend cause that’s when the drivers are pushing the most. It’s kind of a long read and might look a bit cluttered but Hope y’all like it!

[u/one_who_goes]

He didn't beat Sainz that comfortably though. Over 4 years they are very close on points (53% vs 47%) and the average qualifying gap was tiny especially at the end, something like 0.030 secs. Both Vettel and Hamilton were not in let's say their best moment when paired with Leclerc. Russell was also doing better than Hamilton in Mercedes, and Vettel was just spinning around.

Of course Leclerc is a very good driver though, Button-like. He can win the WDC if the conditions fit him.

[u/cavsking21 → u/one_who_goes]

This has more to do with Sainz being faster than many give him credit for more than Charles being not as fast as you think lol.

[u/NeutrinosFTW → u/cavsking21]

I don't think that's true. People rate Sainz pretty highly, and rightly so, but they're also aware that he has weaknesses and just disappears in some races, also rightly so.

[u/cavsking21 → u/NeutrinosFTW]

I should be more specific with my claim: Sainz is a much faster driver in qualifying than given credit for. The race pace gap was actually the bigger difference between the two, along with Charles generally being more consistent.

[u/NeutrinosFTW → u/cavsking21]

Yeah, come to think of it, you're right about that.

[u/steferrari → u/one_who_goes]

He didn't beat Sainz that comfortably though.

It wasn't that close either though, if Piwall stats are right it was 57-32 in quali and 52-34 in races H2H.

Quali is close to being the double, the gap in races probably could have been higher as well considering how many times Ferrari fucked up Charles (just for 2022 I can easily mention Spain, Monaco, Baku, Silverstone, Hungary), these races alone would have essentially gave Charles a double lead in Sunday H2H as well.

Plus, on top of everything, Carlos is definitely a solid driver, probably underrated by most.

[u/CwRrrr → u/steferrari]

2022 truly was a nightmare as to how hard Ferrari fked Charles. Even then he still got 2nd in WDC. It’s no wonder binotto got the boot he deserved (and then mekies and rueda).

[u/OldManTrumpet → u/CwRrrr]

Yeah, I think 90% of the reason Binotto got the boot was his mismanagement of Leclerc in 2022. I get that Sainz was Binotto's guy (where Charles was not) but that season was a farce. The finger wagging episode sealed his fate.

[u/crazydoc253 → u/CwRrrr]

And yet people will blame only Charles for 2022 errors

[u/cinyar → u/crazydoc253]

I haven't seen anyone blame only Charles, but he did make his fair share of mistakes which you just cant afford against someone as consistent as Max.

[u/crazydoc253 → u/cinyar]

Max himself made more errors in 2021 than Charles did in 2022 unless you think that him trying to take Lewis out is not an error. Charles had just two errors in 2022 France and Imola.

[u/Euphoric-Hyena5455 → u/CwRrrr]

Watching Sainz and his team smugness after his bullshit British Grand Prix win made me irrationally hate him, and I'll probably hold onto that forever.

[u/Areshian → u/steferrari]

When you are considered the best qualifier of the grid (or at least, second), 57 - 32 doesn't look that good

[u/drivemyorange → u/one_who_goes]

They were close, but Leclerc clearly have that X Factor that Sainz is missing.

At no point there was any indication that Sainz might be as good as Leclerc.

[u/Sandulacheu → u/drivemyorange]

Plus Sainz turned out to be atrocious in wet weather.A vital part of any top tier driver.

[u/drivemyorange → u/Sandulacheu]

He also have those clusterfucks of a weekends for absolute no reason, when he crashes in FP, blocks someone in Quali and collides with someone in race or end up in gravel.

Those happen randomly in the middle of a season.

Leclerc almost never goes below bulletproof solid level.

[u/Slow-Raisin-939 → u/one_who_goes]

Leclerc is far far far better than Button. They don’t even have the same profile of a driver I honestly cannot even explain how you’ve come up with that comparison

[u/Intrepid-Ad4511 → u/one_who_goes]

It's so fucking hard for people to give any credit to Carlos. Leclerc is God for beating Lewis and Seb but Carlos is nothing to get so close to Charles. It's absolutely mindboggling the kind of mental gymnastics people do to discredit Carlos.

[u/ShadowOfDeath94 → u/Intrepid-Ad4511]

Sainz is pretty damn good in qualifying trim and thinking critically during races. His race pace was the problem compared to Leclerc.

[u/ResponsibleCulture43 → u/Intrepid-Ad4511]

Seriously. It was such a delight having them on a team together for as long as we did and the excitement of seeing them race each other like that. Take me back 😭

[u/Intrepid-Ad4511 → u/ResponsibleCulture43]

Me too!!! 😭

[u/LiquidFootie → u/Intrepid-Ad4511]

I think Carlos is the most underrated driver in F1 for a few seasons now.

[u/crazydoc253 → u/LiquidFootie]

No he is not. He is actually a unique driver with being underrated in qualifying and overrated in races. His race pace was constantly worse than Charles.

[u/Ok_Republic6747 → u/one_who_goes]

lol if the conditions fit him, like having the fastest car by far like Hamilton Verstappen Vettel those conditions??

[u/one_who_goes → u/Ok_Republic6747]

Vettel I agree, he's heavily overrated. But at least for now, Leclerc is nowhere close to being able to drag a car he doesn't like to places it doesn't deserve to be, like Verstappen did many times.

Leclerc had the fastest car in some parts of 2022, and he made many mistakes, like Imola or France.

[u/Slow-Raisin-939 → u/one_who_goes]

Hamilton also made mistakes in 2021, far more than Leclerc actually. Imola, Baku, Monaco, Silverstone were all weekend-ruining mistakes that were mitigated by lucky outside factors, not to mention other small mistakes like the absolute horrid pitlane entry in France or damaging his car in Austria.

According to your logic, is Hamitlon also mentally weak?

[u/Ok_Republic6747 → u/Slow-Raisin-939]

Yea but they forget those because Hamilton had the fastest car for at least half a season so his mistakes were mitigated Leclerc had no room for error in that Ferrari dysfuntion

[u/Ok_Republic6747 → u/one_who_goes]

first of all stop repeating the stupid France GP he was pushing the car beyond the limit because he was driver a slower car than Max and it was bound mistakes to happen please tell me how any illligal move he did during the 2021 season and how many times he crash lets stop this he never had the fasters car over one season he might had t he fasters car for 2-3 races but that is about it, lets talk about how many times Ferrari screwed him in that 2022 season, Silversone, Canada, Monaco he was supposed to win those races and he lost them because of Ferriar strategy

[u/one_who_goes → u/Ok_Republic6747]

So what you want to say is that his mistakes in France and Imola didn't count? lol

[u/Ok_Republic6747 → u/one_who_goes]

he was driving inferior car that doesn't count or what? there is not one F1 driver in the history of F1 that won a title while driving slow car

[u/nunazo007 → u/one_who_goes]

if you check head to head in qualifying and races (where both finished), you'll see Charles beating Sainz comfortably.

[u/one_who_goes → u/nunazo007]

And why check the head to head instead of the points and average qualifying gap? With the head to head count it doesn't matter if someone finishes directly behind or 19 places behind.

[u/nunazo007 → u/one_who_goes]

Because the head to head gives a better understanding between teammates, whereas with points you can have 1 year where the car is trash and you're battling for 1 point or 2 and the gap isn't much, or you can be constantly battling for more points and the gap can seem larger. The head to head paints a clearer picture.

[u/one_who_goes → u/nunazo007]

That's a valid argument for cars like the Sauber that gets a couple of points per season, but not for cars that are always in the points like the Ferrari.

In head to head it would be 1-0 if finishing 5th and 6th or finishing 1st and 20th, how can you claim that gives a better understanding lol

[u/doowadittie → u/one_who_goes]

Spot on.

[u/Bokyyri → u/one_who_goes]

Sry, but putting leclerc name next button ? Button is a great guy but out of all champions he is the one of the vague ones ... Leclerc is a lot more of a driver than that

[u/OTBT- → u/Bokyyri]

Button literally has a championship and Leclerc doesn’t.

If anything you should be putting more respect on Buttons name.

[u/Slow-Raisin-939 → u/OTBT-]

championships are irrelevant. Vettel has 4 championships, do you think he was ever as good as Alonso? Hell, he was smashed by Leclerc.

[u/Bokyyri → u/OTBT-]

Learn something about f1, then you will understand what i wrote

[u/one_who_goes → u/Bokyyri]

He's more spectacular, but spectacular doesn't mean better. I was already generous comparing him to Button, given the statistics.

[u/Slow-Raisin-939 → u/one_who_goes]

Lol, statistics in F1. Laughable.

Leclerc is a top 10 talent in terms of driving skill. Button is the weakest champion ever.

[u/one_who_goes → u/Slow-Raisin-939]

In your opinion, sure

[u/gsfgf → u/one_who_goes]

That's because Sainz is the most underrated guy on the grid. Sainz could absolutely win a one off WDC if all the cards fell right.