Ferrari Accused of Spoon Feeding Charles Leclerc as Unfavorable Over the Top Team Orders Were Flouted by Carlos Sainz

It was rumored that Mattia Binotto had a soft spot for Carlos Sainz during his tenure as Team Principal since the Italian engineer was responsible for Sainz’s opportunity to accomplish his dream of racing a Ferrari. Although now that Frederic Vasseur has replaced Binotto, alongside the fact that the Frenchman shares a great bonding with the Monegasque as their relationship goes a long way back to his F3 days, there have been allegations on the team that Charles Leclerc is getting “spoon-fed” and to put a rubber stamp on it, the last two races give the flames to the fire.

Both Ferrari drivers have been dealing with bad luck since the start of the season. While Sainz had a somewhat respectable performance, Leclerc was plagued by reliability problems, strategic errors, tire wear, and penalties to a much greater degree. Additionally, the Spanish driver in the SF 23 has improved significantly since last week. The team, though, is still very confident in the Monegasque’s abilities, leaving the 28-year-old Ferrari driver with nothing but empathy.

Recently, F1 journalist Peter Windsor made accusations about the Prancing Horse “Spoon feeding” Leclerc on his YouTube channel. The description was applied following two races that validated it. At the Austrian Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz was initially instructed to follow Leclerc even though the swap was still possible, as the Spaniard appeared to be in considerably better shape than the Monaco driver. Eventually, with penalties and slow pit stops, the Red Bull ring turned into hell for Sainz and he ultimately finished only in fifth place.

The real evidence, though, comes from the pitlane incident during the Silverstone qualifying, where the team instructed Sainz to give way to Leclerc following the Red flag delay. Later as Sainz quickly slipped past him to retake track position. Leclerc sent a frustrated, rather sarcastic remark over the team’s radio, “Nice, Carlos, nice. Good overtake in the last corner.”

In light of these situations, it looks like Leclerc is getting the ‘Kid Gloves’ by the team, according to Windsor. While stating the real reason behind it, the F1 journalist added, “First of all, it’s sort of over the top I think to be sort of spoon-feeding Charles like that and imply applying team orders for qualify, team orders but not really instructions going into Q2 in terms of they’re on a very slow lap so don’t pass one another.”

Later while elaborating his stance, Windsor said, “I think they’re both over 21 and they both know how to handle that situation and I think that gives us a bit of an Insight on how at the moment they’re sort of treating Charles with kid gloves and trying to do everything they can to make him feel super confident in the team Under the Heading of Strategy and politics.”

READ MORE: “Carlos Need to Leave Ferrari”: Sainz’s Dirty Tactics Against Charles Leclerc Invite Tifosi’s Wrath

Carlos Sainz is in excellent form right now, and when he was instructed to move over for Charles Leclerc at the British track, it really irked him and in the post-race interview, the 28-year-old vented out his frustration. Sainz even threatens to scrap the ‘gentleman’s agreement.’

Annoyed Carlos Sainz rants out at Ferrari after pit lane incident with Charles Leclerc

After the incident at the British Grand Prix, Sainz was undoubtedly upset since the Spanish driver was in the last seconds of Q1 on the same track where he had last year accomplished a historic feat by winning his first GP. It also irritated the 28-year-old when he was told to step aside for his teammate, which eventually will sacrifice his “tire temperature.”

However, at the post-race interview, when Sainz was questioned about the incident, he initially showed his disappointment and later threatened to void the gentleman’s agreement. As per Express, Sainz said, “The problem is people behind us started to overtake us which meant if you give a four-second gap between all the cars I was not going to get a lap in. Everyone’s got to respect that four-second gap that we more or less give each other. A gentleman’s agreement doesn’t exist anymore.”

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Given the improved pace of Ferrari and how well it is suiting Carlos Sainz, will we witness another incident today?