Carlos Sainz says his 2022 campaign with Ferrari with his most challenging season yet in Formula 1, but also the one from which he has learned the most since his debut in the sport in 2015.
Last year, Sainz passed through the sacred gates at Ferrari after six seasons in F1, having raced successfully with Toro Rosso, Renault and McLaren.
The sport's regulations change at the start of 2022 ushered in a new breed of cars. But while Ferrari's new-generation ground effect F1-75 hit the ground running, with Charles Leclerc winning two of the first three races, Sainz struggled to adapt to the Scuderia's contender.
But steady progress eventually ensued, with Sainz bridging the gap to Leclerc and snatching his first career pole and win in F1 at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Although his season remained a story of ups and down, Sainz is happy with how he managed his affairs this year.
"It’s been a very challenging start to the season with me immediately on the back foot and heading into challenges that I probably didn’t expect to have," he said, quoted by Formula 1.com.
"But I’m honestly very proud, the way that I recovered the season, the way that I managed to stay motivated, even with all the ups and downs that I had, with all the setbacks that we had.
"As a team, as an individual, with so many DNFs, we still managed to turn the season around and now I’m driving again at the level that I know I’m able to drive.
"I’m going to take the positives and keep that as a positive."
Sainz's rough ride and his need to dig deep to understand and adapt to Ferrari's F1-75 delivered their fare amount of lessons, more than in any other season for the Spaniard, save for his first year in F1 with Toro Rosso in 2015.
"I think in that sense, it’s been the year that I’ve learned the most since 2015 – that was my first year in Formula 1," he commented.
"Then I had tougher and easier years, but never such a challenging year as 2022.
"I found myself in a position where I was driving with this car, I was constantly off the pace in the first five, six races, and I had to fight a lot to change some things in my driving, some things on the car, try to get the car a bit closer to my liking.
"Also, [I had to] stop having some muscle memory on the way I drive and reset a bit the way I was driving, and it took a long time.
"But then, as soon as it happened, I felt like I had done a big step forward as a driver in my skills, in my development, and I had learned a load."
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