Charles Leclerc “Gray Area” Top of Long List of Mistakes as Ferrari Fail to Bring the Championship Back to Maranello

Charles Leclerc trails behind Max Verstappen by 116 points. It is a massive chasm, without a doubt. But things would have been very different if not for the numerous mistakes across the season from Ferrari.

Ferrari has made several mistakes this season. One calculation shows they are 108 points from where they could have been at the end of the Hungarian GP. Put that into perspective and you understand the magnitude of the errors.

Peter Windsor, Formula One journalist, speaking on The F1 Hour podcast, discusses this. The host asks questions about possible changes that Ferrari could make to rectify the season’s errors.

In reply to this, Windsor said, “to be honest I think it’s more managerial [the issues; and not with the car or engine] and I would certainly sit down with the strategy team and I wouldn’t be that critical of them because I’m sure that they’re no better or worse than most F1 teams.”

However, he does stress one issue at Ferrari that he feels needs changing. “I would also clear up the sort of slightly gray area around Charles Leclerc. There’s a lot of pro-Sainz and anti-Leclerc stuff going on at Ferrari…that needs to stop. Carlos [Sainz] is a great guy, and perfect ‘other driver’ for Ferrari alongside a superstar like Charles Leclerc.” he says.

But, “Charles needs to be given the space in which to operate and he doesn’t need to feel that he’s got to look over his shoulder all the time and at the moment, I still think there’s quite a lot of that going on.” says Windsor.

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According to Windsor and a lot of fans, the issues at Ferrari are not the drivers, it’s how they are being managed. The equation between Leclerc and Sainz is not being optimized.

Is Charles Leclerc the No 1 driver at Ferrari?

Windsor suggests that Ferrari has not backed Leclerc sufficiently. For him, Leclerc is the main act, while Sainz provides a reliable supporting act in the current Ferrari team.

However, Ferrari is yet to differentiate between the two. They have not declared who their number 1 driver is.

Sainz was asked by the Spanish publication, Marca, about the number one situation.

“I arrive every weekend knowing that I can fight freely with Charles, although you always respect your team-mate more.” said the Spanish driver. “I come here with the same mentality. None of that [number one confusion] has come to me.”

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Ferrari looks to stay the same for the moment, with Mattia Binotto at the helm, while both Sainz and Leclerc are poised equally. However, only time can tell if this non-committal behavior helps or hinders Ferrari’s ambitions.