Charles Leclerc had once again been the dominant Ferrari driver in the opening two rounds of the 2023 season. However, in Australia, Carlos Sainz out-qualified his teammate for the first time this season, leaving Leclerc two spots behind him.
This had left the Monegasque annoyed, an emotion made clear in his unusually sarcastic radio message thanking Sainz for not giving him a tow. “Big thanks to Carlos for the tow. Got a bit of speed there, always nice.”
Sainz had clearly struck a nerve with the usually cordial driver, whose weekend went from bad to worse after retiring on the first lap of the race. Regardless of the outcome, F1 pundit Peter Windsor was particularly interested in Leclerc’s radio message; something that stuck out like a sore thumb between the duo in red.
Charles Leclerc not happy with Carlos Sainz
Windsor found Leclerc’s reaction surprising. Observing that Leclerc was “quite annoyed” with his teammate for not helping him on the final straight of the Australian circuit. Windsor noted, “I thought it was odd that he made that public, that he was upset about that, because you’ve got to live in your own world and you’ve got to be very cocooned when you’re at Ferrari.”
Labeling the reaction “political” in the very protected world of Ferrari. Already in the spotlight for a lot of reasons, Leclerc’s message didn’t sit right.
Further, the fact that Leclerc felt entitled to help from Sainz, despite not being in the run for the championship. “To me, even if Charles felt that Carlos was in a position to help him, I think it’s quite naïve of him to think that Carlos would.” Windsor also added that if the roles were reversed that weekend, even the Ferrari number 1 would do the same.
“I’m surprised that Charles even allowed that thought to come into his head because it’s unlike him to think that way.” Leclerc may not be in the right headspace either, having retired from two out of three races in the opening half of the season. Currently P10 in the championship, at 6 points; Leclerc is far from his former rival Max Verstappen’s 69 points at the top of the table.
This leaves Windsor intrigued. “I think that’s a really interesting dynamic of what’s going on at Ferrari right now.” Thus, he words of advice to the downcast driver? Be friends with Sainz. “I’d be saying to Charles right now, ‘the best thing you can do is to have a great relationship with Carlos Sainz because you might need him as the season goes on’.”
With Charles being the quicker driver, he shouldn’t have much to worry about, except just pushing his Ferrari past the finish line. There is still a long season before, and if there’s one thing about F1- anything is possible.
