I don’t blame Sainz for being frustrated. Honestly I think he had a more impressive race than Leclerc–staying right on him in the first part of the race, making up lot of the time lost to the team’s two terrible pit stops, and the incredible battle with Perez.
But at the end of the day he was out qualified by Charles, and Ferrari can’t afford to lose out on any points.
I’m not sure Charles would have defended as well as Carlos did had Ferrari let Carlos pass Charles at the start of the race when Carlos’ pace was clearly faster. Also did anyone else notice how much distance Charles gained on Carlos when the virtual safety car came out and Charles didn’t immediately slow down? I felt kinda pissed for Carlos tbh.
I agree, Carlos certainly had the better race pace. If he hadn’t defended so well against Perez I think there’s a good chance Charles would have been under threat.
The gap thing was intentional I believe, to create more space for the double stack, but I could be wrong. That was my assumption at the time.
Given Ferrari’s track record with double stacking, maybe Carlos doesn’t trust them to do it without adding a gap. Seemed like he was making the strategy calls this weekend.
I’d be frustrated too. The reality is Leclerc hasn’t performed as expected and Sainz has. In fact I’d say he’s been the faster racer for most of the season. Leclerc has made too many mistakes and Ferrari should be giving Sainz the green light to pass anytime he’s faster. They should be backing Sainz as their #1.
I agree, he keeps getting better and better
Leclerc has a massive aura that will take some time to fade if he keeps on making mistakes and having off weekends. Hopefully Sainz can just keep on showing his quality. I honestly think Leclerc has a higher ceiling than Sainz, but Sainz seems to be able to perform closer to his best at more races than Leclerc.
Ferrari should have switched him & leclerc at lap 8/9 Would have been a double podium for sure
I think it would have helped their chances, but with that terrible pit stop it still would have been tough. If they could have had a typical stop, or even avoid the double stack, I think odds would have been in their favor for a double podium for sure.
There’s no need to ‘switch’. They need the freedom to sort it out on track.
Honestly the way the DRS is at Austria, I don’t think his pace was better than Leclerc’s. He was only close to him because of DRS and not because of a pace advantage. You just had to look at his pace after the VSC, it was either the same or slower than Leclerc’s.
Fair enough. He was good this weekend. I think he deserved that podium more than Perez.
