F1 | Leclerc is as exciting as Gilles, but he lacks the patience of Sainz

Acrobatic, spectacular. Beyond the limits of the single-seater and capable of thinking of overtaking maneuvers in impossible places, exalting the audience and demonstrating great driving generosity. Charles Leclerc is one of those drivers who drives with his heart, by instinct, closes his visor and attacks, every tile of the track is the right one for a "number", for a gamble.

Against Perez Leclerc it looked like Neymar making feints and counterfeits to the unfortunate defender of the moment. He caught him twice on the outside, forced him to "foul", with an objectively inferior car he sent an expert driver like the Mexican to the asylum. Not to mention the attacks attempted on Ricciardo, on Vettel, for the fury with which he runs when he has to recover.

Watching Charles drive is like a blast from the past; he has that old-fashioned, romantic, risk-taking way of running, the cerulean and slightly melancholy eye that lights up when the visor is lowered. The generosity, the spectacular driving, are a bit reminiscent of the reckless and uncompromising driving of Gilles Villeneuve. Or, so as not to inconvenience the sacred monsters, the aggressive and generous approach also recalls that of Jean Alesi, another driver who entered the hearts of Ferrari fans for his way of racing on the attack.

“Instinct has its reasons that reason does not know”. Yet so much spectacle, so much aggression, excite but only partially pay off. Charles is slightly lacking in impetuosity, he is overwhelming but also hasty, he throws his heart over the obstacle and with it the car, in situations in which however he could wait a few more moments and think. The maneuvers excite, but they are risky, all this has a price, today's F1 requires strong nerves, coldness, calculation.

Carlos Sainz seems like the exact opposite. He's a long-distance runner finisseur who focuses everything on rhythm and waits for the right moment to take the shot. He knows how to wait, he is patient, he is not overwhelmed by haste or the desire to break the world, he moves up to his pace, but manages to maximize the result. You almost don't see him, he doesn't put on a show, but you find him immediately behind the leaders, in crescendo. The Spaniard is solid, consistent, and is a hammer of regularity. When the conditions are favorable he also knows how to attack, in a surgical and lightning-fast manner.

It's not a question of right or wrong, Ferrari's dioscuri simply have a diametrically opposite approach to the race. It is Leclerc's talent, however, that must be channeled, refined, chiseled. Because the Monegasque's class is overflowing, explosive, above average. And it must be refined where limits emerge. As the calm, but deadly and concrete, Carlos teaches: "The races are long, you need patience".

Antonino Rendina

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