Ferrari will have two riders on par in the 2022 world championship: Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc will have the same starting status in the Cavallino team and now that the red will aspire to win GPs it will be curious to see if the two drivers will be able to keep the excellent one alive. atmosphere of collaboration that they have created this year.
Ferrari’s hope is to take advantage of the rule change to bring Mercedes and Red Bull closer together, and there is also an awareness that the two drivers could take points away from each other if the new ground-effect single-seater were to be more competitive.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF21, Laurent Mekies, Racing Director, Ferrari
Photo by: Ferrari
However, team principal Mattia Binotto is very clear that Leclerc and Sainz will be treated in perfect equality and then it will be the track results that will ultimately decide a hierarchy at some point in the season …
“In terms of riders, as we have often repeated, I think the track will dictate the law – said Binotto -. The team will always be the priority, but there is no doubt that if they can compete for an important position in the championship, they will be the facts to tell who will be in front “.
“Because I think sometimes it’s not just the rider’s talent or ability that counts, because one can be much more unfortunate than the other and pay for the effects of damage, reliability problems or abnormal retirements. This is why I don’t think there is a need for driver number one or number two at this stage. We will discuss it based on track positions whenever the time comes “.
Carlos Sainz earned equal status thanks to an excellent first season in Ferrari that ended 5.5 points clear of Charles Leclerc, finishing the championship in fifth place, two places ahead of the Monegasque.
Binotto’s reading is very clear: there is no rejection of Leclerc …
“No, of Charles I can say that I am very happy to have seen the progress he has made this season. I think he has always been somehow very fast in qualifying, even in the latter part of the season, when Carlos was challenging him. more. But we cannot forget the two retirements in Munich and Budapest that made the difference. On those occasions he was unlucky “.
“Without those retirements it is difficult to say where he would have ended, but perhaps at least 40 points are missing from his standings otherwise Leclerc would have been much ahead in the championship. Charles learned a lot in the race on how to manage the tires and was able to adapt the race pace to the situations. I can only be happy enough with the progress he has made ”.
Carlos Sainz Jr. celebrates the podium in the Abu Dhabi GP
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
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