Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz? Red Bull chief advisor Helmut Marko's surprising pick for the better Ferrari driver

In a surprising pick, Helmut Marko feels Carlos Sainz is the better driver at Ferrari at the moment compared to Charles Leclerc. Sainz has been one of the hottest names in the driver market this season. It was earlier announced that he would be replaced by Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari in 2025.

Since then, Sainz has had three races this season. The first one in Bahrain saw him secure a podium for Ferrari. He then won in Melbourne, while securing another podium in the third race in Japan. The Spaniard has an impressive record that even overshadows Leclerc at the moment.

In qualifying, Sainz is 2-1 against his teammate and has finished ahead of Leclerc at every race weekend he's competed in. In general, Leclerc has been considered the better driver of the two but a few issues with the car have seen him struggle in qualifying.

So much so that even Red Bull chief advisor Helmut Marko feels that, at the moment, Carlos Sainz is the better driver at Ferrari. Before the start of the race weekend in Suzuka, in a conversation with OE24, Marko was questioned who he thought was the better driver on the Italian team and the Austrian went with Sainz.

"Last year it was definitely Leclerc, but now I would say it's definitely Sainz," he explained.

About Carlos Sainz's win at Melbourne, Marko stated:

"Sainz is a strong character, ambitious and highly motivated: firstly because of his expulsion from Ferrari, secondly because of the appendix effect. Everything is coming together at the moment, it's at an incredible high."

Carlos Sainz has left Charles Leclerc floundering, feels Martin Brundle

In a recent edition of the Sky Sports podcast, Martin Brundle felt bad for Carlos Sainz's situation this season. Talking about the Spaniard's recent performances, Brundle said that Sainz had left Charles Leclerc floundering to an extent this year.

“It’s really tough for him. In pre-season I said I thought he was going to fly this year because the pressure is off, he can drive for himself a little bit more, the team have biffed him off for Lewis Hamilton. His natural talents are always going to flow with nothing to lose and everything to gain, all of the right mentality to just go and fly and really just take it to everybody and show everybody how wrong they are," he said.

“That’s exactly what he’s done and he’s left Charles Leclerc floundering to an extent in some respects, and I would never underestimate Charles Leclerc, but I’d never underestimate Carlos Sainz either," Brundle added.

After the first four races of the season, Leclerc finds himself third in the championship standings with Sainz right behind him in P4.