Carlos Sainz’s Fear of Ouster Made Him Shut His Mouth Against Brewing “Conspiracy” Favoring Charles Leclerc Within the Ferrari Quarters

Another weekend and another horrendous race for Ferrari. The Italian team perhaps finished in a better position than expected in the Hungarian GP. However, the overall race management and performance of the team, apart from the drivers, wasn’t without its criticism. Ferrari made a dreadful stop for Charles Leclerc, keeping him stationary for 9.4 seconds. However, long before this, Carlos Sainz was already suffering the brunt of Ferrari’s strategic calls. Most F1 drivers would throw a fit if they were put in the same position as Sainz. However, the Spaniard kept his mouth shut and played the perfect team player’s role to not dredge up a “conspiracy”.

For the unaware, Sainz has been put in an awkward position by Ferrari for three races in a row now. Starting from the Austrian GP, Sainz has been receiving instructions to stay behind Leclerc at various points during the weekend. We saw a similar instruction on the Hungaroring in the opening stint of the race. However, instead of moaning about this continued practice, Sainz dismissed any tensions while speaking to the media, as quoted by Marca.

“I suppose they made him stop before to make up for his bad stop,” he said.

He further added, “I don’t care if I’m seventh or eighth, but if my car goes a second faster. I think you’re seeing it in a conspiracy way and it’s not like that. He had a slow stop and they wanted to make up for it. For the team it’s the same to finish seventh and eighth than eighth and seventh.” (Translated via Google)

Read More: Despite Charles Leclerc Being Ferrari Favorite, Carlos Sainz Finds Motivation to Aim High at Hungarian GP amid Recent Loss

Sainz’s behavior is completely opposite of what we might’ve seen from Leclerc if the roles were reversed. However, this might exactly be the reason why Sainz isn’t being favored.

Carlos Sainz needs to make his mark where it matters to nullify the favoritism toward Charles Leclerc

Sainz is definitely the more mature and experienced driver out of the two. However, the Spaniard has been unable to beat his teammate where it matters during most weekends. This is the aspect of racing Sainz needs to improve to make Ferrari put some faith in his abilities and get the team’s orders in his favor.

This is the opinion of F1 journalist Roberto Chinchero. He said, “[Sainz] did the whole weekend better than Leclerc, but not Q3, and I think it’s frustrating for him. Charles, on the other hand, has the talent to put himself there at the key moment.”

“What Carlos needs to understand is that what matters, especially if the car has regained speed, is Q3 and the start. He has to be in a position to be in front. If he’s always the one behind, the situation gets complicated,” he concluded.

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Every F1 driver’s teammate is their first rival with whom they need to be compatible. A difficult combination to maintain, to say the least. So it will be easier said than done for Sainz to get on top of Leclerc. Let’s see if he can change this at the coming race weekend or after the summer.