Historically, Scuderia Ferrari have arguably been the greatest racing team to compete in F1. Of course, there are other legendary teams like McLaren, Williams, and Sauber in the pool. But Ferrari manages to stand out amongst them, not only because of their impeccable on-track achievements but also because of the name and the rich culture they follow as an outfit.

On the back of this rich culture, they have been one of the most decorated teams in Formula 1, winning the constructors’ championship a record 16 times. And of course, there is also the name, Michael Schumacher, who found his form with the Reds and broke every possible record in the F1 book.

On the other hand, Ferrari have been infamous for favoring one teammate over the other. Let’s reconsider Schumacher, who went on a title-winning spree with the team between 2000 to 2004.

Ferrari had to toy with Rubens Barrichello in order to help the German win most of the titles. The Brazilian was ordered to give up victories, podiums, and mostly played second fiddle to Schumacher.

Similarly, there was the Sebastian Vettel-Kimi Raikkonen pair-up. Again, team orders were always part of the duo’s races; in this case, it was mostly Raikkonen being asked to back off. But, something has changed since Carlos Sainz made his way into the team. Charles Leclerc and his new teammate have been enjoying their time together at Ferrari as equals.

Are Ferrari finally reverting to equal treatment?

Looks like it. Heading into the season, it was Leclerc again enjoying the royal treatment, being the number 1 driver. However, as the season progressed, Sainz started to push hard as well. Since the Monegasque was then ahead of Sainz in the championship, the team could have requested Sainz to hold his position.

Interestingly, no such team orders were given. The two drivers raced each other hard and fair, and ultimately, Sainz finished ahead of Leclerc in the championship standings. Nobody anticipated that at any point! It was quite shocking.

This equal treatment has further helped the two drivers bond closer than anyone ever imagined. There seems to be hardly any distrust between the two. The latest video of Sainz and Leclerc on the famous Formula Rossa roller coaster, too, proves the same. There are smiles all around.

Title pressure the reason behind this change?

Every time Ferrari pushed after only one of their drivers, it was probably over a season where they had a shot at the driver’s championship. However, since 2020, it has mainly been a period of struggle for the Maranello outfit.

With no title pressure, Ferrari finally let their two drivers race freely with no constraints. Now, the only question is, will this kind of treatment remain the same going ahead? Well, we’ll know next season, where the likelihood of Ferrari challenging the front-runners is significantly high.

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