Carlos Sainz won his first F1 race in Silverstone on Sunday, but his teammate Charles Leclerc endured another tough weekend.
It’s tough to imagine that Leclerc has not been on an F1 podium since the Miami GP back in April. The Monegasque looked to be the favorite to fight for the Title but it’s becoming more difficult by the day.
Silverstone was the perfect chance for him to reduce the gap to Max Verstappen (who is leading), but a Ferrari mishap once again spoiled his race. He was left out on old hard tyres for the last few laps of the race, and could not hold off Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez, who were both on fresh softs.
On top of that, Sainz had fresh softs on his tyres too. After the safety car restart, Sainz overtook Leclerc to take the lead of the race. This angered some Leclerc fans on Twitter, who felt that the Spaniard should have defended Hamilton and Perez for his teammate.
Sainz however insisted during and after the race that he was the quicker driver.
Lewis Hamilton would have overtaken Charles Leclerc easily
Leclerc was on old hard tyres, and Hamilton on fresh softs. When racing resumed, Sainz insisted that he was faster than his teammate and could get them the win. This came in spite of the team asking to maintain a 10-car length distance from his teammate at the start.
Sainz refused to do so, mainly because he thought Hamilton would have overtaken him quite easily if that was the case. Once he got past the Spaniard, catching up to and moving past a car with old hard tyres in 11 laps would not have been tough.
“At one point we switched positions when we were overcut by Lewis,” he said. “Then they asked me to do this 10 meter but I tried to explain to them I had behind probably the fastest man on track today.”
“If he passes me, Charles is gonna be dead meat also, no?” the 27-year old added.
Some people including figures within F1 have praised Sainz’s ability to read the race. Leclerc fans however, remain adamant that the Spaniard’s refusal to follow team orders cost their favorite driver a race win.
