Ex-Ferrari Boss Calls Out Fred Vasseur and Co’s “Politically Stormy” Situation Plaguing Charles Leclerc

The Tifosi can finally celebrate as Charles Leclerc finally wins the Monaco Grand Prix, breaking his curse. His teammate Carlos Sainz did not do too badly himself, gaining the final spot on the podium. Ferrari is closing in on Red Bull in terms of points, and despite it being Carlos Sainz who started the season strong, Leclerc has caught up.

While it might feel like Leclerc is getting more support and Sainz is being sidelined, that’s not true at all. Despite Sainz being the stronger driver initially, Leclerc has more points in the driver’s championship, making him the more successful driver. In a recent episode of F1 Talk with Peter Windsor, a question about Ferrari taking sides came up and left the host confused before explaining his take on the situation.

Charles Leclerc gets stuck in team politics

When the question, “Hi Peter, to be honest recency bias in F1 is annoying. The Sainz Melbourne win/Ferrari made the wrong decision narrative died down pretty quickly with Charles picking up form. Thoughts please?” To this the ex-Ferrari GM responded, “I don’t know what you’re referring to. All I can say is that there’s a great tendency on social media to have hashtags based on whoever did something notable the previous day, and that seems to be what the world is at the moment.”

He explained his take on ‘trending’ posts and said, “There’s very little reference to an overall picture. It’s a bit lazy; it’s the world in general. You get all these very short sound bites and hashtags trending, which basically renders all history and understanding of where we are and how we got here completely negligible.”

However, Windsor answered the question with what he understood it to be saying, “Carlos Sainz, I’ve been saying, has improved in his driving over the last 18 months. He started to find a really good sweet spot last year, and he’s kind of stayed there, give or take the odd shunt (Imola shunt, for example). But he recovered from that pretty well. And Charles Leclerc, I’ve always said, is one of the top three drivers in the world. I’ve always ranked him with Max and Lewis. Of course, he’s always had different emotional and political issues to deal with compared to those two drivers.”

The former Ferrari boss explained his take and stated, “All drivers are different from one another and in different situations. Charles is in a very politically stormy team—Ferrari—only because it’s so much under the microscope.” Ferrari’s micropolitics are needed Windsor explains as he says, “The Italian press and Ferrari have historically always been very political, and that has affected Charles when he hasn’t had great days, probably. But he’s done really well to continue to battle through, and he’s always been superb.”

Ferrari has been a political team since the beginning as it has the legacy of being the only team in F1 since the sport began. The team’s influence on the drivers is always high and many decisions are out of the driver’s hands. Frederic Vasseur has great knowledge about the sport and he uses that to leverage the best results possible from the team. Although Leclerc and Sainz are battling it on the tracks every other weekend, the Monegasque driver admitted that Sainz is much better, at Padel.

The sport that Carlos Sainz has an upper hand in

Recently, it was revealed by the Monaco GP winner that he keeps it competitive on and off the track. During an interview, when Leclerc was asked about Padel, he responded, “Oooh, now it’s getting really competitive! I think I am getting better and better. Carlos [Sainz] has always been very good. Carlos is probably the best“. The Ferrari drivers are known to enjoy other sports besides F1 and Padel happens to be their favorite.

Although Leclerc is learning the sport quickly, he knows that his teammate is a stronger Padel player. This was noticed during the Ferrari vs Aston Martin Duo Padel game and Sainz got a few kind words from Leclerc at the venue. Back then when Leclerc was asked about the team’s Padel skills, the 26-year-old driver replied, “No, no, I honestly think that Carlos [Sainz] and I would be the best“. For now, Leclerc has Sainz as a teammate, but that will change quickly as Lewis Hamilton will join the team.

With that said, who do you think is a better teammate for Leclerc? Is it Sainz or is there potential for Hamilton to take his place in their friendship? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.