“Carlos Sainz is not Leclerc’s wingman,” Former Ferrari director believes Spaniard’s career is ‘on the rise’ after maiden F1 win
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Carlos Sainz after winning his first F1 race at the Silverstone Circuit
Carlos Sainz was able to secure the first F1 win of his career at Silverstone and recently Ferrari’s former Sporting Director, Cesare Fiorio has indicated that he was not surprised by the result as he always had believed in the ability of the Spaniard behind the wheel of the F1-75.
While Carlos Sainz had a race to remember, Charles Leclerc on the other hand not so much. The Monegasque finished out of podium places in Silverstone but despite his disappointment, he was happy for his teammate as he took no additional time in going up to Sainz and congratulating him.
Leclerc however, after the race felt that had the Italian team brought him into the pits for a tire change after Ocon’s VSC, things would have ended in a more pleasing way for him.
Fiorio was also baffled by the team’s decision and while stressing about it said, “I watched the Grand Prix with some friends and as soon as I realized there was going to be a Safety Car I said ‘if I was on the wall I’d call the cars to fit the soft tires’ which actually happened but unfortunately this it was not done with Charles Leclerc.”
“I don’t know why they didn’t call him in because at the start, with the hard tires, it was an unequal fight for Leclerc. They shouldn’t penalize Leclerc in this way.”
“It was important to emphasize that Carlos Sainz is not Leclerc’s wingman.”
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Cesare Fiorio believes Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are both potent drivers
Charles Leclerc has had the upper hand over Carlos Sainz this season but Fiorio believes that they both are highly skilled drivers and while talking Sainz has said, “He is an equally good driver and is capable of competing and achieving results for Ferrari at a high level.”
“Sure, Leclerc is stronger than him in qualifying, but by a few hundredths of a second, but in the race, they are both worth the wheel they have.”
“Sainz deserved that victory, he was not the wingman of another driver, he was a driver who was making his career.”
After the 27-year-old’s strong showing in Silverstone, he has made a significant jump in the Drivers Championship and is now only 11 points behind his teammate Leclerc who is sitting in third place for the time being.
Fiorio further added, “Despite the accidents, Sainz had at the beginning of the season, now they are very close in the standings.”
“Anyway, I didn’t understand why they didn’t put Leclerc on the soft tires as well, even though this would have resulted in a double pit stop with a loss of two or three seconds, but no more.”
Ferrari after Silverstone has now got Austria in their sights and given what happened at Silverstone, it will be fascinating to see how the team is going to handle its two drivers at the Red Bull Ring.
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Rishabh Negi
(3244 Articles Published)