Is an inter-team rivalry turning into a public feud? A story of this kind is building up in the Ferrari camp. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz found themselves at odds over a critical on-track incident at the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix. Despite a solid strategy, Leclerc was unable to overtake George Russell. It began on the third lap when Carlos Sainz overtook Charles Leclerc, who then fumed over the radio. Igniting a blame game.

“I know very well where I lost it,” the Monegasque blared on the team radio. One might think, Leclerc, was blaming himself, but no. He chose not to self-criticize and blamed Carlos Sainz’s actions, that he overtook Charles and caused the disruption. This has led the Spanish media to defend their homeboy Sainz. And they left no chance to remind Leclerc that on previous occasions too, when he tried this same trick on Carlos Sainz. In that, Sainz gave Leclerc a taste of his own medicine.

Charles Leclerc blamed Carlos Sainz while he gave a cool dismissal

MARCA reported Leclerc insisted that the Spaniard wanted to impress in his home Grand Prix. “It wasn’t the time to fight. He damaged my front wing. I guess he wanted to impress at his home race, considering the moment of his career,” Leclerc clarified. According to Spanish media, Leclerc’s statement was out of place. Especially now when he has no team. Leclerc wanted to attack his teammate further, but on seeing Sainz’s cool demeanor, Leclerc had nothing much left to do. “I don’t understand his complaints,” Carlos Sainz told the press.

Sainz confirmed that what he saw in the images at the end surprised him, learning that Charles even complained in the first place. The most astonishing part of all this was Sainz’s attitude toward the matter. He didn’t give much importance to the allegations Leclerc accused him of. Instead, he just explained that both the drivers were told to save the tires, “but Leclerc was doing it too much,” reported MARCA.

“It wasn’t the time to fight. Maybe he shouldn’t do that action with me.” These two statements of Leclerc must be applied to him as well, retorted MARCA. Although a separate policy indeed runs within Maranello, and at times choose to not let their drivers fight. But that wasn’t the case on Sunday. “The newspaper archive does not help Charles, since he put a podium at Monza in 2023 at risk when he was about to overtake Sainz,” reminded the Spanish media, adding, “and many times he has not followed the orders that have been imposed on him in the Italian team.” Evidently, a level of displeasure has settled within various Spanish media against Charles Leclerc, with team boss Fred Vasseur complying with Sainz’s idea instead of Leclerc’s!

Fred Vasseur agrees with Carlos Sainz’s stance

At the same time, Ferrari team boss, Frederic Vasseur simply wanted to resolve this conflict. He also denied the statements of his pilot Charles Leclerc. He said: “I think he complained because he was losing 0.5-1 seconds each time and not because of damage that we didn’t see in the data.” Vasseur clarified another point, that the team did not lose anything. Although there was a small contact, they didn’t lose anything “at that stage of the race,” Vasseur concluded.

Vasseur’s opinions are contradictory to those of Leclerc’s and comply closely with what Sainz had been indicating throughout. While it is still unknown what the implications of this conflict are going to be, a public feud of this kind could affect Ferrari inversely. A glimpse of the difference in opinion between the Ferrari drivers could be a problem in the upcoming races.

This clash between the drivers at the Spanish Grand Prix has exposed simmering tensions within the Ferrari team. The blame game between Sainz and Leclerc coupled with team boss Frédéric Vasseur’s opinion, highlights an unrest. As the media fans the flames of this rivalry, Ferrari faces the challenge of managing internal conflicts. How far will this conflict stretch between these two friends is yet to be seen. What are your thoughts on Ferrari’s performance at the Spanish GP? Do let us know in the comments.