If there's one thing that's clear in Formula One, it's that, no matter what anyone says, Charles Leclerc is the lead driver at Scuderia Ferrari. Throughout his racing career, he has consistently been labelled as a "Generational Talent," a term, in which time and time again, he has proved is one that best describes him. And, after an impressive first season in Formula One in 2018, driving for the Sauber team alongside ex-F1 driver; Marcus Ericsson, it came as no surprise when he was announced as a Scuderia Ferrari driver for the 2019 season.
For the next couple of seasons, Leclerc would partner highly acclaimed and multiple F1 World Champion; Sebastian Vettel, finishing higher than him in the two championship seasons they spent together. Vettel would leave Ferrari at the end of 2020, pathing the way for current Ferrari driver; Carlos Sainz.
Sainz, like Leclerc, had a relatively decent junior career. However, he was never labelled in the way Leclerc was. After dominating the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 championship, as well giving Max Verstappen a run for his money at Toro Rosso, people perceived Sainz as good, just not Leclerc good, giving him the reputation as Ferrari's second driver from the get go, despite finishing higher than Leclerc in the 2021 World Championship. And, after a 2022 season, that saw Leclerc head Sainz, we come to today - 2023, where Sainz sits ahead of Leclerc in the current championship standings. Despite this, it's done barely anything to aid Carlos Sainz as he fights to beat Leclerc, with the team, on multiple occasions, handing Leclerc the favorable strategies.
This seems pretty unfair right? As a Carlos fan, yes. But as a racing fan, yes and no.
Leclerc has made his name at Ferrari. Like Max Verstappen at Red Bull, the Monegasque is a champion in their (Ferrari's) eyes. Take 2022, for example, Ferrari had a car, especially in the early stages of the season, of matching Red Bull. It was always Verstappen vs Leclerc. Sainz didn't always have the pace to be up there with his teammate and eventually scored only 9 podiums (1 win) compared to Leclerc's 11 (3 wins).
However, what has become evident in recent years, is that Leclerc is prone to mistakes, throwing away multiple wins, podiums and points. And, of course Sainz makes mistakes too, but Leclerc seems to make them, more often than not, during pivotal parts of a race weekend.
The one thing, though, that distinguishes Sainz from Leclerc is his ability to score consistently. He may have only 1 F1 career win and only 1 podium in 2023, but his consistency has earned him the title of lead Ferrari driver in the Championship. But again, Ferrari see Leclerc as their main man, despite them letting their drivers race at Monza with Sainz coming out on top.
And, then there's the Tifosi - Ferrari's passionate fan base. And, like the team, they are about Leclerc. With the increasing popularity of social media and team/fan engagement, could fans be having some effect on who the team's number one is? It's possible. (Still there is no need for the amount of drama that fans, especially on Twitter create.) But, becoming slightly contradicting, as we saw in Monza, a large percentage of the Tifosi aren't overly bothered which driver has the favourable strategy. As long as they finish on the podium, the fans will be there, chanting their driver's name over and over. A beautiful sight for a Carlos fan.
Wrapping this up, from a championship point of view, the team will want to score as many points as possible, but things become questionable when Sainz, who can be the faster driver at times, is told to hold station behind his teammate who has no chance of catching those ahead. Or, when Leclerc, in some sense, "throws his toys" out the pram over team radio because Sainz failed to help him? Surely, if Ferrari want to maximise their point tally, their faster, on-track driver should be given the favourable strategy.Whether it's Leclerc or Sainz, should it matter at the end of the day?
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