“Would Have Been Stupid”: Frederic Vasseur Reveals How Ferrari Strategists Avoided a Civil War Between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in Canada

The Tifosi hasn’t gotten to celebrate good results due to good strategy calls very often. But Ferrari’s mega result (considering this year’s performances) at the Canadian GP was solely due to the strategy calls made by the team, and it’s safe to say that it wasn’t just the Tifosi who were happy to see Ferrari succeed due to its strategy. Charles Leclerc & Carlos Sainz also showed their positivity deeming it as a solid performance. But the race wasn’t all smooth sailing, and the team had to make some calls to maximize its points.

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz recovered to P4 and P5 after starting a lowly P10 and P11 because of an error-ridden qualifying session. But it all worked out in the end, with Ferrari strategists not only making a good strategy call but also preventing a civil war. 

Carlos Sainz wasn’t allowed to attack Charles Leclerc 

At a time when Ferrari needs every point it can get in its fight against Mercedes and Aston Martin for P2 in the championship, Frederic Vasseur made a decision to avoid missing out on any points. After starting in tenth and eleventh, Leclerc and Sainz were up to P8 and P10 when the Safety Car came out due to George Russell’s collision with the wall at Turn 9. When most of the field decided to pit for new tires, Ferrari made the call to stay out, preferring track position over fresh tires.

When asked about this decision after the race, Vasseur revealed that the drivers had asked the team to give them “free rein” because they believed they had the pace to extend the gap to the cars behind them. And they did. After the SC ended, they were in P4 and P5—with Perez chasing them—and extended the gap to Ocon behind by more than 20 seconds. Even though Sainz was the trailing Ferrari, he had more pace. But the team asked him not to fight Leclerc. Letting them fight could’ve led to an outcome the team didn’t want—a DNF for either of its drivers.

As quoted by motorsport-total.com, Vasseur said, “It wasn’t that we wanted to protect anyone. The fact is that a fight between the two pilots would only have lost time. [We] couldn’t afford that because we tried to widen the gap to Ocon and maybe Norris. Therefore, it would have been stupid to let the drivers fight each other.” Even if Sainz would’ve overtaken Leclerc, the chances of him catching Hamilton and overtaking him weren’t too high. So, it was a wise call from Vasseur & Co. to not step on each other’s toes.

Read More: “He’s Not Thinking”: Carlos Sainz Told to Take a Leaf Out of Oscar Piastri’s Book as the Current Approach Deemed Insufficient to Beat Charles Leclerc

The Ferrari pair finished the race in fourth and fifth, with Leclerc leading them over the line. Vasseur said, “If you start from P10 and P11 and finish in P4 and P5, that’s good. It’s a nice reward for the team.” While Vasseur was happy with the result, Leclerc wasn’t fully content.

Leclerc wants to fight for more than just P4

The Canadian GP was one of Ferrari’s best races this season. With the team amassing 22 points, it has revived itself in the fight for P2 in the championship. While Ferrari and the Tifosi were over the moon after the race, Charles Leclerc wasn’t smiling his “real” smile. In a post-race interview where he was asked if he was happy with the result, he said he would really smile once the team was back at the front of the field, fighting for race wins. But he knows this is a good result to build upon.

Ferrari brought new upgrades to Barcelona last time out, but they came alive in Montreal. After the race, Red Bull taskmaster Helmut Marko commented that he was glad the Ferraris started way back because they seemed to have the best pace on the grid. 

Ferrari has taken a step in the right direction and will look to build on this momentum going forward. What do you think? Did Ferrari make the right decision by asking Sainz not to attack Leclerc, or could it have gotten more points had Sainz fought Hamilton and Alonso?

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