Carlos Sainz insists he's optimistic about his future with Ferrari, despite a number of setbacks for the team and for him personally in 2022.
The year started off well for the squad with Charles Leclerc winning two of the first three races to take a strong initial lead in the drivers championship. But after that it all went sour with a string of issues for the team.
Early reliability issues with the F1-75 together with on-track incidents has left Sainz currently sixth in the standings, behind Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton with just two races remaining.
"It's been a nightmare of a season to be honest because of all these things - all the DNFs, being slow when the car was quick, and now I'm quick and we are not as quick as we used to be. It's everything that has gone wrong."
Sainz admitted that this year's new car with its bias toward oversteer balance (meaning the rear is loose and tends to move and slide) had not suited him as well as it had Leclerc, and that it had taken him time to adjust.
"I found a lot of setbacks at the beginning of the year with this new car, with the new regulations, that didn't adapt to my driving style," he told the BBC Sports website.
"This year, we are struggling a lot with tyre management on these new Pirelli tyres," he pointed out.
"The starts with this car, for some reason, have been extremely difficult. We have an inherent problem that doesn't allow us to get off the line as well as in previous years."
As a result of these and other issues, Leclerc was able to out-qualify Sainz in the first eight races in a row by an average of 0.265s - something Sainz found hard to swallow.
"I have never been 0.2 to 0.3s off any team-mate in F1 and I can never accept that," Sainz said. "I always feel like I am quick in any kind of car.
"For the first time in my career I found myself with a very competitive car but one I didn't feel comfortable and natural with.
"I had to challenge myself and open up new roads of set-up and driving style that I wish I didn't have to open, because I wish everything had come a lot more naturally and positively.
"But it happened this way, and I stayed disciplined. I tried a lot of things and I made a lot of mistakes trying things.
"It was all about trial and error and then coming back and discovering a new path that was a little step forward."
"I had to reinvent myself in many ways to try and find the pace," he explained. "I didn't give up. I kept pushing even in the difficult moments, and you can see it paying off now at the end of the season in terms of speed."
Sainz was soon looking competitive by Canada, where he battled Max verstappen for victory; and in Silverstone he claimed his maiden F1 pole position followed by his first F1 race victory the following day.
He's out-qualified Leclerc in four races since (and including) Hungary, with further poles coming in Belgium and the United States, but isn't taking any of this for granted.
"I'm realistic," Sainz commented. "I know how good Charles is in those conditions. This year he has been driving at a level that is very close to Max or any other driver.
"For me he's in a way done a perfect season, apart from the two or three typical mistakes everyone does in a year, or the luck which maybe he has been lacking the same as me.
"When you see other drivers on the grid, you can see it is difficult to turn around a season, or turn around the feeling with the car. You don't see it very often.
"The fact I managed to do that makes me happy," he added. "These are points I am going to work on in the final races and into next season to be more complete."
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
