Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto made it clear that they won’t make Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz their number one driver.
Leclerc has been in Ferrari since 2019, but the team won’t be prioritizing his races over Sainz’s. The latter joined the Scuderia in 2021 and had a very good first year when he surprised many with his performances. In terms of points, the Spaniard finished ahead of his teammate in his first Ferrari season.
This year the story in Maranello has been different. They have been involved in a Title fight against Red Bull, who have Max Verstappen as their number one driver.
Despite having a strong start to the campaign, Leclerc and Ferrari have faced a lot of problems in recent weeks. The Monegasque driver has not been on the podium since April, which is catastrophic for someone in the Title mix.
Bad luck has played its part with engine failures, but a major reason why Leclerc has gone through this tough patch is his own team’s strategy making.
Ferrari should give priority to Charles Leclerc over Carlos Sainz
Sainz too had a difficult start to the year. He made multiple mistakes in the opening rounds which spoiled a lot of his outings, but he’s picked up form since then. In fact, he achieved a milestone in his career after winning his first ever F1 race last weekend in Silverstone.
Binotto in the press conference just confirmed Ferrari will not use team orders in order to “give the drivers more opportunities and maximise team points for the WCC”.
“They are free to fight.”
I don’t want to be too dramatic, but congrats Max for your second WDC.
— sara (@_allthatglitz) July 9, 2022
However, a lot of these races where Sainz performed well have come at Leclerc’s cost. The Italian outfit’s strategies were not directly targeted towards helping one driver in particular, but they have helped Sainz more as of late.
They wait until abu dhabi when we are like 200 points behind. This is why we don’t win anything 💀
— Janina🌻 needs a lecuddle (@pinsaroulette16) July 9, 2022
This particular fact has angered Leclerc fans who feel that the 24-year old is much faster in general. After Binotto said that they would be free to fight each other during races, fans were enraged.
Keeping driver interests aside, Ferrari’s main goal is to maximize points for the team. People in the F1 community feel that Ferrari will fail to do that, and neither driver will be able to win the World Title if they don’t make Leclerc number 1 driver.
