CHARLES LECLERC

Charles Leclerc was this year’s standout rookie in Formula 1 – by a long shot.

To be fair to Sergey Sirotkin, his qualifying record versus Williams teammate Lance Stroll was a very healthy 13-8 in Sirotkin’s favour. But qualifying is not Stroll’s strong suit, and Sirotkin did nothing much else of note really. The car was bad, yes, the worst Williams for a while – perhaps ever – but Sirotkin did not do a great deal with it either. In the end, his sponsors grew too frustrated – partly (and probably unfairly) with him, but mostly with Williams’ dire lack of performance and development – to bother continuing, so his F1 career already looks over.

By contrast, Leclerc’s rookie season was, by all accounts, outstanding. After a tricky early period coming to terms with the set-up of his Sauber, and toning down his F2-derived driving style to better suit the demands of F1, Leclerc buried the five-year career of experienced team-mate Marcus Ericsson with performances so increasingly assured that Ferrari finally felt moved to end Kimi Raikkonen’s long second stint at Maranello.

That Leclerc has earned his promotion to Ferrari already, after just 21 grands prix, is proof enough he was 2018’s most outstanding new talent.