“Ferrari Has Gone in the Direction of Leclerc”- Schumacher Reveals Key Reason Behind Vettel’s Struggles

Scuderia Ferrari endured yet another lopsided outing at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc continued his impressive run of form by bagging a P5 finish, whereas his teammate Sebastian Vettel suffered another disaster, crossing the checkered flag in P12.

The performance gap between the teammates has been vast. It is something that has caught the eye of every F1 fan, leading people to question the reasons behind the same. Surely, a 4-time World Champion couldn’t have forgotten how to race over the winter.

Addressing this question, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher said, (translated by Google), “I believe that Ferrari has gone in the direction of Leclerc with all these technical improvements.”

Even before the season got underway, it was apparent whom the Scuderia would give preferential treatment to. Leclerc already had a 5 year contract under his arm, and with the axing of Vettel for next season, it only makes sense for Ferrari to cater to their potential world champion.

Schumacher added, “It is a completely normal process. If one driver stays, and the other leaves, as a team, we naturally tend to respond to the wishes of the driver who will also be there in the future.”

While Schumacher does make a very valid point, it still leads one to question whether a team should completely ignore their #2. Or rather not cater to him at all. After all, they aren’t the only team who’ll see one of their drivers join a rival for next season.

Ferrari should have catered to Vettel a lot more than they did

McLaren and Renault too are losing Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo next season; however, unlike Ferrari, they have given their drivers what they require, and the results are there for all to see.

Ferrari, on the other hand, have just not helped Vettel in any way. Obviously, they’ve had a bad car. But their strategy calls have been questionable, and the German has also been plagued with a run of bad luck.

For any team to shine, they need both their drivers to do well. Since Ferrari haven’t catered to Vettel in terms of making the car more suited to his style, they find themselves behind the likes of McLaren, Racing Point and Renault on the Constructors’ Championship table.

Hopefully, next year Carlos Sainz will be treated better, bolstering the Prancing Stallion’s quest for the title.