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Charles Leclerc reflected on his growing relationship with Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz, claiming the two have gotten closer throughout the 2022 season. The Scuderia seemingly had the best car on the grid at the start of the year, leading to frequent podiums for the two drivers.
Sainz has eight podiums to Leclerc's nine, definitely putting him on the back foot in the eyes of many in the F1 community. The Spaniard, however, has shown incredible zest and is likely to get even faster over time.
The Monegasque admitted that he didn't know Sainz much before pairing up in 2021. The two have, however, gotten a lot closer and are both active in the team's development strategies.
In an exclusive interview with RacingNews365, Charles Leclerc spoke about his Ferrari teammate, saying:
“My relationship with Carlos is very good. We didn’t know each other very well before we were at Ferrari. We didn’t talk much before Ferrari, except when he told me that he dreamed of driving for Ferrari one day. But yes, our relationship is very good. In racing we are of course very competitive, but together we work very well to help the team move forward.”
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are actively involved in Ferrari's team meeting, claims team boss
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto recently explained that Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are actively involved in team meetings to ensure that the team can develop and improve holistically. The team is now officially out of the hunt for the 2022 drivers' championship, with Max Verstappen having secured the title in Japan.
In a press conference ahead of the 2022 F1 Italian Grand Prix, the Ferrari boss said:
“As far as the drivers are part of the project, as they are no external people, simply being there participating but not being involved, they are involved in all our process of improvement, they are involved in our discussions, they are involved in our review post-races and they are involved real time during the race weekend, whatever we are doing so on the strategies, they are involved in the race, in the discussions that we got on the Sunday morning, and as well during the race itself.”
Binotto added:
“So I think being so involved, they are part of it and they are even protagonists so it’s not a matter of giving them assurances, it’s a matter of keeping them involved, making sure that the team is capable of improving, giving them the full support to do so.”
Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez are still currently in a hot battle for second place in the drivers' standings. With four races to go in 2022, expect the battle between the two drivers to go down to the wire.
