Formula 1: 3 bold predictions for the 2022 season
By Ian Higgins
Formula 1 prediction #3: Carlos Sainz Jr. scores first win and championship
In a welcomed return to competitiveness for Ferrari in 2021, Carlos Sainz Jr. managed to outscore teammate and Ferrari prodigy Charles Leclerc in his first season with the Scuderia.
He even jumped former teammate and current McLaren rival Lando Norris for fifth place in the driver standings in the final event of the season.
Sainz continues to stitch together successful seasons despite the frequent changing of teams, which has thus far defined his career.
Leclerc and Norris are also not the only elite teammates with whom Sainz has gone toe-to-toe. As a rookie in 2015, Sainz entered the Toro Rosso outfit alongside a teenage Max Verstappen who had a slightly lower average finishing position and near-identical average qualifying position to the young Spaniard.
Although Sainz was short 31 points overall to the future world champion, he had to contest with three additional DNFs and displayed competitive pace.
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With a clear talent for adapting from car to car, Sainz is seemingly perfectly positioned to at the very least score his first victory in Formula 1 while the remainder of the field attempts to acclimate to new regulations. What could give Sainz the chance to bring home a world championship though is a Ferrari package that is expected to be the best on the grid.