Ever since joining Ferrari, Charles Leclerc has been tipped to bring the glorious title to Maranello. But with two at-par drivers in the team, there have been arguments about who the new team boss, Fred Vasseur, will choose as the team’s number 1 driver in the championship battle.
Vasseur has argued against the idea of assigning a lead driver to the team. He gave the tussle between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in the 2016 championship season as an example of why is it incorrect to do so.
In Ferrari, he explained that both Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are an equal opportunity until one driver creates a lead over the other in the title battle. He insisted that both the Ferrari drivers are equally capable of winning races with the team.
Ferrari boss explains why ‘Mercedes’ lead driver’ strategy was incorrect
Hamilton pipped his Mercedes teammate Rosberg for two straight seasons. But in 2016, Rosberg made the most out of the reliability problems in Hamilton’s side of garage early in the season and clinched his first and only championship trophy. With the Briton dominating the races and championship, team principal Toto Wolff had given him the role of lead driver which created friction between the two ends of the Silver Arrows’ garage.
Vasseur used this as an example of how putting one driver in the lead position is incorrect. Drawing on his own 30 years of experience, he pointed that he has worked with multiple young drivers in junior categories and there is never a lead and a second driver.
He argued that if it is possible to do it in junior categories, it is possible for Ferrari to do it. Vasseur said that he can’t imagine that the Scuderia does not have the ability to provide the same material to both Sainz and Leclerc.
“Nobody expected Nico Rosberg to win in 2016” – Vasseur
Furthermore, the Frenchman explained that the championship season leads a team into making these kinds of decisions. Vasseur said that imagine a scenario where Sergio Perez won two races and Max Verstappen retires. Suppose the Dutchman suffers a gearbox issue and gets a penalty for next race.
Imagine that Perez, after the race in Monaco, has a 100 point lead over Verstappen. These kinds of scenarios can present themselves anywhere.
Recalling the 2016 season, Vasseur further explained that nobody expected Rosberg to win that season. But he eventually did. He said that Ferrari has two strong drivers and both of them are capable of winning races, the team has to use it as an advantage.
