In my opinion, Carlos started the season almost too relaxed, perhaps because of his good times and feeling with the Williams in pre-season testing. He seemed clearly superior to Albon... until the races started... then everything changed: Albon drove like an angel, and Carlos had to push himself too hard. And he made mistakes, with the corresponding bit of bad luck added to the mix.
But in the second half of the season, Carlos resurfaced. I think that ability to overcome adversity runs in his family, but the fact is that he improved a lot. He regained his confidence, and now we are where we are thanks to that.
Carlos is like a powerful jackhammer with a built-in computer and an enormous amount of kindness and courtesy: "smooth operator".
