Tensions are running high at Ferrari as they continue to underperform this season. Both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have expressed their frustrations on the team radio at various points of the season, including on Saturday during the British Grand Prix qualifying session. And even though the frustration on the race track has not reduced, they have managed to remain cheerful away from it. In a recent interview ahead of the British GP, both Leclerc and Sainz opened up about their “cute” relationship with each other.
Now it will be interesting to see if their public spat on the team radio during the qualifying session affects their relationship or not. They both expressed their annoyance with one another on the radio and although the final outcome didn’t affect either, it was a nervy moment for the team.
This is what Charles was unhappy about.
Carlos overtakes Charles just as they’re about to start the lap. pic.twitter.com/SeRZO9dGYA
— Ferrari News 🐎 (@FanaticsFerrari) July 8, 2023
As seen in the video, Sainz attempted a cheeky move on Leclerc to get past him during the qualifying session to prepare for his final flying lap. And unsurprisingly, the Monegasque was not happy about it. As a result, he took to the team radio to sarcastically mock Sainz and say, “Nice, Carlos. Nice. Good overtake in the last corner“.
Sainz later explained that he only pulled off such a move to save his own qualifying session. While the tensions were high at the time, it seems that both Ferrari drivers sorted things out after the qualifying session. It seems that both Leclerc and Sainz are good preventing on-track incidents from affecting their personal relationship.
“We come as a package“: Carlos Sainz on his relationship with Charles Leclerc
Carlos Sainz had a hilarious interaction with Charles Leclerc during a recent interview with Sports Bible. When asked who would make the better stand-up comedian, Leclerc replied, “I know that I would not feel at ease“.
Soon after the Monegasque stated this, Sainz added that if they would work together, then they would pull off a “good job“. When Leclerc agreed with his Ferrari teammate, Sainz cutely added, “Together or nothing“.
“better comedian?”
charles: i wouldn’t feel at ease…
carlos: i think if we were together, we’d do a good job
“going on a track is easy but that makes you nervous?”
carlos: yeah. together or nothing. we come as a package pic.twitter.com/tKTGG9ujAg— clara (@leclercsletters) July 8, 2023
The hilarious interaction between the two teammates just did not end there though as soon after, the duo began boasting about the languages they know. Sainz was quick to boast that he knows more languages than Leclerc but he did not believe him.
Leclerc stated that he knows French, English, Italian, Spanish and also Chinese. On hearing this, Sainz immediately replied and said that Leclerc knowing Chinese was impossible.
“who speaks the most languages?”
charles: i do. i’m not sure actually. french, english, spanish, chinese…
“you speak chinese?”
charles: no (laughs)😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/bbbilIM0jm
— clara (@leclercsletters) July 8, 2023
When Leclerc admitted that he does not know Chinese, Sainz revealed the languages he knows by stating, “Polish, Spanish, Finnish“. And just as it seemed like Sainz was done with his list, he also hilariously added that he knows Vietnamese and Korean alongside English.
Even though the Ferrari drivers showed great camaraderie in the segment, the same cannot be said about the on track. Other than their spat during the British GP qualifying session, the two have also clashed over Ferrari team orders and strategies in the past.
Sainz expressed his displeasure at the Austrian GP
A week ago at the Austrian Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz was furious when Ferrari issued team orders to him. Since doing so cost the Spaniard severely, he slammed his team for not giving him the opportunity to overtake Charles Leclerc. This is because, Sainz feels he was much faster than Leclerc.
Ferrari fans will now hope that such spats between the two don’t into anything severe. Especially with the team currently not in a position to fight for the world championship. The prancing horses are currently fourth in the Constructors’ Championship. They have just scored 154 points and are already a whopping 223 points behind leaders Red Bull.
A similar scenario is also visible in the Drivers’ Championship. Sainz is currently fifth with 82 points, 10 points ahead of sixth-placed Leclerc. Both Ferrari drivers are more than a staggering 140 points behind championship leader Max Verstappen and seem in no position to fight for the title despite not even half the season having been completed.
