At the same time that George Russell crossed the finish line first and Max Verstappen became four-time champion of the Formula 1 in it Las Vegas Grand Prixin which Franco Colapinto finished in 14th place, an internal battle was being fought in the structure of Ferrari between its two pilots. Charles Leclerc He was very dissatisfied with the team’s decisions and the disobedience of Carlos Sainz Jr. to the orders that came from the paddock.
Despite the excellent relationship that both drivers maintain off the track, it is not the first time that they have crossed paths on the asphalt and it has led to exchanged statements over the radio. Fred Vasseurhead of the Maranello team, always clarified that there is no number one in the team and that priority depends on the development of the race. However, The problems in the starting duo led to several moments of tension throughout the season.
In this case, the race on the Nevada street circuit started favorably for the Monegasque, who overtook the Spaniard at the start and was about to take the lead from Russell. But this caused him to destroy his tires and lose several positions. However, he was able to recover and stay ahead of Sainz Jr after the team told him to let him pass because his teammate was about to enter the pits. But that was where the first conflict of the day was born.
The son of the historic rally driver was effusively asking to enter the pits, something that was confirmed to him from the pit lane. However, while he was being pressured by Lewis Hamilton and, when he was already on his way to enter, they told him at the last minute to stay on the track because the mechanics were not ready. This decision did not sit well with the Spaniard, who is competing in his last races with the Italian team, since he will race with Williams in the 2025 season.
Several laps later, it was Leclerc’s turn to pit. “Carlos has been told not to go ahead, but he will be very close. Stay ahead, he was told not to put you under pressure. Just focus on your tires.”were the words that came out of the paddock for the Monegasque. But Sainz did not follow the team’s orders and overtook Charles who was defenseless with low-temperature tires. “Maybe they should try it in Spanish”shot the Monaco-born pilot in a sarcastic tone.
Once the race was over, with Sainz in third position and Leclerc in 4th place, The Predestined He got angry on the radio with the team and was very dissatisfied with the decisions made by the strategists, in addition to emphasizing the actions of his teammate. “Yes, I did my job, but being nice pisses me off all the time, all the time. It’s not even being nice, it’s being respectful. I know I need to shut up, but it’s always the same.”commented Leclerc on the radio. To this, It was added that he insulted his career engineer when he ordered something, without realizing that the communication was on and had to quickly apologize.
“We have decided not to talk (about this) with the media, we will talk to Charles about what has happened between us. But we don’t need to clarify it, it’s between us. I never open the radio and I don’t talk to the media because it is not pleasant and it is not necessary“Sainz responded to the media. Furthermore, he explained the situation in which he could not enter the pits: “I had been asking to stop for two laps, I wanted to let Charles pass because he was coming faster, but I knew that Hamilton was behind, so I also asked to stop because there was a lot of graining. We didn’t stop, I was two laps away and even with the pit stop we had problems. Things didn’t go well for me and also for Charles, I lost a lot of time. It was not a pleasant situation and it was not easy to deal with. That’s how it was, that’s why I prefer to analyze later”.
For his part, Leclerc also explained his position at the press conference. “I was not happy with Carlos’ behavior. I’m not going to go into details, honestly not… I’m not happy because there are things we say to each other and today they were different. But nothing happens. We finished third and fourth, for the Constructors’ Championship, nothing changes,” he argued.
Although Sainz will not continue at Ferrari and will be replaced by Lewis Hamilton, the internal problems in the team were not overlooked throughout the entire season, and the previous ones as well. However, the Prancing Horse had a good result in Las Vegas and continues to put pressure on McLaren at the top of the constructors’ championship, where it is only 24 points away with two races remaining. At the same time, Leclerc is third in the drivers’ standings with 319 units, while the Spaniard is fifth with 259.
