JANUARY 4, 2025

Top drivers of 2024 - #5

Carlos Sainz, fifth

Carlos showed tremendous resilience and professionalism in the way he handled himself knowing, from the start, he wouldn’t be a Ferrari driver next year. Reached hero-like status by racing in Australia less than two weeks after undergoing surgery and winning in Melbourne to show his metal.

Coped better than Leclerc with the SF-24’s botched upgrade in the middle of the season, but, overall, lacked that extra bit of speed and race craft the Monegasque has in spades. Hardly every put a foot wrong, except in difficult track conditions, like in Canada and Brazil, and could have done more to avoid crashing with Pérez in Baku. Still, did a very solid job and helped Ferrari stay in the title fight right until the last corner of the season.