Sainz being far better is commonly accepted… But I have to say that there is no evidence.
I am not a F1 fan anymore, so I guess my judgement gets objectivity. (I hope at least).
There are tons of drivers that we use to compare, without a single solid clue to do so (except when there are team mates of course ). Sainz last performances gave him some consideration within the paddock. Some months ago, he seemed however lost on the track. When it’s time to compare drivers, I would say that Sainz, gasly, Ocon, Albon, Russel, piastri, tsunoda are more or less the same performance level. From time to time it varies, depending on many factors, including the cars’ pace.
If we put them on the same car, on several tracks, we may be able to order them … But this will never occur. That is why I get rid of F1. This is a car championship, but all the fame and blames go to the drivers.
Youre 100% right. But I am not sure that Sainz have been cleaner than Ocon in his whole carrier. I mean, there are pilots whom each incident is a drama, and other that seem to go over long term critics. When a pilot reaches a top team, I think we tend to forget that they also use to be dirty sometimes. Recent results priors over the whole carrier performance imo. (But I may be wrong, I am not a fanboy at all).
Ironically, Sainz is not very popular in my circle of friends ;). I just tend to defend Ocon, as he clearly suffers form some (french?) bashing, while stroll or magnussen are more mocked. For me, he is just a good pilot among these good pilots, with pros and cons.
But before trashing on these valuable pilots, let’s get rid of the ones that do not have any pace :