Sainz-Leclerc, end of the idyll? Spain does not change anything | FormulaPassion.it

by SIMONE PELUSO (BARCELONA)
Failing the result, it is almost natural that the attention at home Ferrari falls back on the episodes. In Spain the Reds finished in fifth and sixth place, the same positions in which Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz qualified on Saturday and which probably represents the real sore point of the SF-24.

Frédéric Vasseur underlined this extensively when analyzing the match in Barcelona: “We have to do a better job on Saturdays, because when you start from behind it becomes difficult to overtake and you have to take risks with the strategy“.

The risk the team principal talks about is related to Sainz’s early stop, too early to allow him to reassemble the Soft for the final stint. A choice dictated by the desire to attack Mercedes, forcing them to make mistakes through strategy. The move, despite the mistake in the pit by the Brackley team, was unsuccessful and the Spaniard was then also sucked in by Leclerc who he had overtaken on the track in the first laps.

A overtaking which could not fail to cause discussion, especially in light of the ways in which it happened. Sainz forced the attack and the two Ferraris also came into contactwith Leclerc’s wing which – damaging itself – hit the #55 Red Car, sending it onto the asphalt escape route in Turn 1.

Charles he clearly did not digest the maneuver and it showed immediately at the end of the race. He didn’t even wait to be “behind the scenes” to go look for Sainz and ask for clarifications: once he got out of the car, immediately under the podium and before even arriving in the FIA ​​garage for the weigh-in, the Monegasque approached his partner and started a discussion right there.

Not happy, stimulated “immediately” by the questions of journalists in the mixed zone, he reiterated the concept: “Fight was not correctedbut above all not right at that moment, because it was the moment in which we knew that we both had to save the tire, especially in the last corner: obviously on that particular lap I saved as I had to in the last corner, but Carlos didn’t he saved for nothing and overtook me at the end of the straight. It’s also his home Grand Prix, I think it’s an important moment for his career. He wanted to do something spectacular, but it wasn’t the time“.

Open-faced attack in broad daylight to which Sainz’s response was not lacking: “I had the opportunity to overtake him, I can’t keep up for the rest of my life. I don’t know what he’s complaining about“.

The episode, more than a fuss, is actually a mosquito bite. First of all, it should be underlined that this is not Sainz’s first “rebellion” since he joined Ferrari and it is not the first clash between the two. We can mention Silverstone 2022, but it is not the only one.

Secondly, the reading – albeit partly dictated by ‘anger’ – that Leclerc gave is already an intelligent analysis in itself. Parting ways with a driver even before the start of the season inevitably leaves consequences. And at this point of the season, without a contract yet and faced with such an important stage as that of the home Grand Prix, it is almost logical that Sainz has thought more about himself and is not interested in any strategic details (in particular tire management). which, in the end, also backfired more against him than for him.

Because of this, the picture and the environment inside the Ferrari garage will not change much more between now and the end of the season: Sainz will leave anyway, Leclerc represents the present and the future of the Cavallino even with the imminent arrival of Lewis Hamilton (he too is in a not so rosy moment with his team for the same reasons of Carlos), and the episode did not compromise a result already marked by qualifying.

At the end of the race, Vasseur also commented on the episode in a very calm and relaxed manner, focusing attention on other factors that caused real time to be lost in the race. And often body language expresses the concept even better than words: the Sainz-Leclerc problem is a non-problemeven more so at this moment.