Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have no doubt been one of the strongest driver pairings of the 2024 season.
Between them, they scored 652 points for Ferrari this year and almost managed to outscore McLaren to win the Constructors’ Championship but just missed out by 14 points.
It is a testament to their strong year that Ferrari won five races and still managed to outscore Red Bull, who took nine victories on the way to his fourth title in a row.
Even though Sainz started off the season knowing that he was being ousted in favour of Lewis Hamilton in 2025, he still delivered for the team when it mattered by winning races in Australia and Mexico.
Sainz’s victory at Melbourne came weeks after his recovery from appendicitis, while he dominated the field by taking a lights-to-flag victory at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Leclerc sent a heartfelt tribute message on his Instagram stories after Sainz did a similar post on his profile.
Charles Leclerc thanks Carlos Sainz in heartfelt Ferrari tribute message
Leclerc and Sainz have been teammates for the last four seasons and while the latter only beat him once in 2021, the Monogasque has since outscored on three other occasions.
This year, Leclerc and Sainz’s average gap was only 0.028s, measured through each of their fastest laps in the races.
Sainz posted a message saying it was a ‘amazing’ four years and thanked Leclerc for pushing him all the way during their partnership.
Responding on Instagram stories, Leclerc wrote: “Thank you mate. I wish you all the very best too. Was so good to be pushing each other so much race after race.
“Learnt so much from you and the way we have worked together in these past years. So many great moments shared that I will look back at proud and happy to have shared them with you.”
Carlos Sainz given ‘unexpected gift’ after Ferrari send off
The final days of Sainz’s Ferrari contract were spent participating in a send-off at Maranello, with the Spaniard driving his 2022 race winner around Fiorano.
Carlos Sainz Sr also took part in the event and drove the F1-75 along with his son, with Ferrari saying that he spun on one of his runs but got up to speed quickly.
Sainz would later receive the car as an ‘unexpected gift’ according to Italian media, as a parting gesture from Ferrari for his efforts over the years.
The Spaniard is set to move to Williams for 2025, having run with them during the Abu Dhabi post-season test for the first time at the start of December.
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