Ferrari made significant progress last season as the climbed up the grid after a disappointing 2020 campaign.
For the Scuderia, things are looking bright going into 2022, and some believe that this might just be their year.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will drive for the team once again this season, keeping the partnership they created at the start of last season.
Leclerc is seen as their future World Champion and joined Ferrari after impressing in his debut F1 season for Sauber. He joined the team in 2020 to replace Kimi Raikkonen and was immediately on the pace of four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel.
Sainz joined Ferrari at the start of the 2021 season and was instantly on the pace to Leclerc. He had a very successful spell with McLaren before that, showing us all the true potential and ability that he wasn’t able to capitalise on before that.
At the pre-season test in Bahrain, Ferrari really got people talking with the second and third fastest time of the first session, with Leclerc going slightly fastest than Sainz.
Day two proved to be yet another success, with Leclerc going fastest out of everyone, with Sainz putting in 71 laps down in fifth place.
The third day of testing proved to be more reflective of 2021, with Leclerc leading Sainz yet again, but this time with the pair was down in 6th and 7th place.
Ferrari arrived in Bahrain as one of the favourites going into the new season, and with Sainz ending the day in second and Leclerc in third, things were starting to look very good for the Scuderia.
Day Two saw the team end the session in first place, with Sainz fastest, however, HAAS were granted extra track time and Kevin Magnussen went quickest overall.
The final day of running saw Leclerc set the third fastest time, with Sainz down in 13th but with 68 laps to his name.
This line-up Ferrari didn’t appear to be strongest when it was announced at the start of 2021. Leclerc is a fantastic driver, but Sainz had really only one good season up until that point and this move was a real risk for the team.
I think Ferrari were thinking of having Leclerc as clear number one, but Sainz outperformed expectations and created a level playing field with Leclerc.
There is no clear number one driver at Ferrari and should the team be fighting for wins, this may prove a problem with the team having a headache decision to make. Do they favour their future world champion or the driver they brought in to be a number two that has surprised them.
The struggles of the past appear to have been ironed out and the future for Ferrari is looking very strong, whether it will be enough to fight for the Championship, which might become clearer after a few rounds of the season.