2023 Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team

[Farnborough]

To the question "who I would put in the car if there was option to ? "

Currently only one person, Lewis Hamilton. I'll qualify that by saying I'm far from a Lewis fanboi, with no problem to offer criticism, but most certainly not the topic here. Just to illustrate my stance on him.

The characteristics I feel he could bring are absolutely proven, he rarely ever travels backwards in any race, almost ratchet like in never slipping back, very very high levels of consistency in application to dragging any pace out of a chassis, if its capable he seems to have the ability to suck pace into the chassis via team support.

There really would be no hiding place for Ferrari as a team, no excuses, step up to the plate and show what you can do situation. They really need that certainty currently to answer their own questions.
Removing the engine failure this year, I believe this car as it is with LH would likely be 2nd in WDC. It has pace already, we just can't see it in fully consistent form.

I've absolutely nothing against CL & CS for reference, it just seems they too are caught in the perpetual Ferrari washing machine cycle that exists.
I do like CL swashbuckling style, real hang it on the line stuff, brilliant watch and a lovely part of F1. But would that make him champion in a Ferrari, I doubt it. A little like Jean Alesi in that his career will ultimately be sacrifice to the up and down rollercoaster that is just part of the team.
If I were him I'd be knocking on a red bull door

[scuderiabrandon]

I've entertained this argument enough, it is starting to feel like trolls are just out to re-ignite a completely rinsed out topic with nothing to back themsleves with.

There's no need, after posting such a long and detailed post with your thoughts and position to then degrade the quality by calling other posts as trolling... By trolling it yourself.

Come on..

Ringo has his opinion, strongly in favour of Carlos, for which you've you're reply.

I'm sure Ringo isn't going to spend the time to write that in an attempt to troll this thread. That would be silly.

To be fair, I'm not disagreeing entirely with either, Carlos is steady and I think still improving. He has had a unique and varied career in several teams to date and maybe stability is what he needs?
Charles is bloody fast but not yet properly consistent.

It's the same thing over and over hence my response. The same argument with nothing to back it up. I would hardly call that an opinion when you are ignoring facts, I would call that a narrative.

[ringo]

As a mod - guys - bickering is bloody tedious. Play the ball, not the person. Some decent points being made and it doesn't need to be point scoring against your peers on this place.

Thanks @Vanja for the response last page - as a user, not as a moderation team - it is good to have sensible conversation ref the worst Ferrari driver in 25 years?
To be fair to Ferrari, for several of those years they have had some unbalanced teams

Alesi and Berger
Schumi and Irvine
Schumi and Barrichello
Schumi and Massa
Raikkonen and Massa
Massa/Badoer/Fisi and Alonso
Alonso and Kimi
Kimi and Vettel
Vettel and Charles
Charles and Carlos

Is that right? missed anyone? I'd suggest Carlos, for his 2 years in the job has done a decent job against Charles who we all agree is the better driver? (right, is anyone saying that all else being equal that Carlos is going to beat Charles?)
My opinion is that when the no1 seat is driven by the best driver and the team can pull together with it then Ferrari can deliver - if there is too much balance, as there is today, then the team cannot deliver 2x winning cars.

The issues really are that Ferrari cannot get their business together. A significant waste of talented driving skills in these seats.

That list has mostly very competent drivers apart from Badoer. Goes to show that discussing Sainz or Leclerc is really nitpicking. As a neutral in this discussion, from my observation Leclerc has more talent, but Sainz is more complete, and this explains why he is usually closer to the podium. Leclerc is very volatile and the less likely to mount a challenge in a championship.
Let's look back to 2022.. remember that Leclerc took himself out of the championship because of errors in qualifying and race.
All sainz lacks is the ability to get the most out of the tyres with Ferrari and some raw pace. But looking on his history with Mclaren and Renault, he was actually a strong long run pace driver whenever he gets the tyre working.

As long as Leclerc is with Ferrari they will not win a championship. And this is not because he does not have the talent, but he has does not seem to have the emotional intelligence to look inside himself and surgically fix his weaknesses. We see drivers like Hamilton, Alonso, Max, Vettel who continuously improve their driving methodically and calmly. Charles seems to overdo the self critical aspect and bashes himself only to go back and do a similar mistake or get paranoid and bash the team or get grumpy about his teammate.

Until he fixes his head, I would say Sainz is the more likely to bring Ferrari a championship. Just give him a rocket ship that's kind on its tyres.
Leclerc is stronger, but too volatile. With a rocket ship, I can see him driving over the limit when it's not needed, or not biding his time and imploding mentally.

It's an interesting driver pairing, but looking on the score board now, you can kind of see where Sainz, though slower, has used his maturity and strategic brain to be the one with the better results.

Sainz is in his 9th fooking season in F1 with 172 race starts barely has 1 win to show that too was a gift from Mattia.

Really dont want be mean on the guy just because some of his fans want to oversell him. He is decent driver but from what angle he looks a championship matarial driver to you only you can explain.

Secondly All i could conclude from your essay is your whole argument is based on 1 Narrative that Leclerc makes mistakes and Sainz doesn’t which can be easily countered with numbers. This too many mistakes narrative has already been discussed and debunked here many times. If we really go into the details we can clearly differentiate how many he actually did and how many the team or other factors played in. mistakes proves nothing as long is driver is talented and provided with a fast car.also by your logic RB should have dumped Max back in 2017-18 only.

Leclerc and Sainz are in the same boat. Sainz does not have great results over his career because he just never had a good car. Charles was lucky enough to have driven for Ferrari for much longer in a race winning car.

The Ferrari is his first good car for Carlos and I am comparing his run with Leclcerc's and I couldn't care less about the both of them as a fan. I am not a Sainz fan either, but I do not see much difference between them. The fact we are having this debate is proof that they are quite close in terms of delivering for the team.

Mistakes prove a driver is not bringing results it's as simple as that. What's the point of having talent if you have nothing to show for it?

Leclerc will always be a riskier choice than Sainz, and in fact I think Sainz is more marketable. And hear my out, I am not trolling. But Sainz has worked with at least 4 teams and has more leadership qualities than Charles, who is somewhat of sheltered and emotional driver. Leclcerc is just not ready to lead a team; just too many errors, lacks strategical brain, and is just a negative and energy sucking guy. Sainz is more strategic, more forward looking and more positive.
The only thing saving Charles right now is his willingness to take more risks during qualifying, which results in seemingly having immense speed. I would change my mind about him if he at least changes his attitude and gets a little more tactical.

[ringo]

As a mod - guys - bickering is bloody tedious. Play the ball, not the person. Some decent points being made and it doesn't need to be point scoring against your peers on this place.

Thanks @Vanja for the response last page - as a user, not as a moderation team - it is good to have sensible conversation ref the worst Ferrari driver in 25 years?
To be fair to Ferrari, for several of those years they have had some unbalanced teams

Alesi and Berger
Schumi and Irvine
Schumi and Barrichello
Schumi and Massa
Raikkonen and Massa
Massa/Badoer/Fisi and Alonso
Alonso and Kimi
Kimi and Vettel
Vettel and Charles
Charles and Carlos

Is that right? missed anyone? I'd suggest Carlos, for his 2 years in the job has done a decent job against Charles who we all agree is the better driver? (right, is anyone saying that all else being equal that Carlos is going to beat Charles?)
My opinion is that when the no1 seat is driven by the best driver and the team can pull together with it then Ferrari can deliver - if there is too much balance, as there is today, then the team cannot deliver 2x winning cars.

The issues really are that Ferrari cannot get their business together. A significant waste of talented driving skills in these seats.

That list has mostly very competent drivers apart from Badoer. Goes to show that discussing Sainz or Leclerc is really nitpicking. As a neutral in this discussion, from my observation Leclerc has more talent, but Sainz is more complete, and this explains why he is usually closer to the podium. Leclerc is very volatile and the less likely to mount a challenge in a championship.
Let's look back to 2022.. remember that Leclerc took himself out of the championship because of errors in qualifying and race.
All sainz lacks is the ability to get the most out of the tyres with Ferrari and some raw pace. But looking on his history with Mclaren and Renault, he was actually a strong long run pace driver whenever he gets the tyre working.

As long as Leclerc is with Ferrari they will not win a championship. And this is not because he does not have the talent, but he has does not seem to have the emotional intelligence to look inside himself and surgically fix his weaknesses. We see drivers like Hamilton, Alonso, Max, Vettel who continuously improve their driving methodically and calmly. Charles seems to overdo the self critical aspect and bashes himself only to go back and do a similar mistake or get paranoid and bash the team or get grumpy about his teammate.

Until he fixes his head, I would say Sainz is the more likely to bring Ferrari a championship. Just give him a rocket ship that's kind on its tyres.
Leclerc is stronger, but too volatile. With a rocket ship, I can see him driving over the limit when it's not needed, or not biding his time and imploding mentally.

It's an interesting driver pairing, but looking on the score board now, you can kind of see where Sainz, though slower, has used his maturity and strategic brain to be the one with the better results.

As long as Leclerc is with Ferrari they will not win a championship. And this is not because he does not have the talent, but he has does not seem to have the emotional intelligence to look inside himself and surgically fix his weaknesses

Most recent example of him 'surgically' trying to fix his weaknesses. Went out in FP3 in damp conditions to get a better feel of the tyre in those conditions.

Leclerc is very volatile and the less likely to mount a challenge in a championship.

Please remind who was in a championship battle last season and who was fighting for P5. Charles had 3 out of 4 wins when the cars was a rocketship and kind on its tyres. Should've been 4/4 we all know he got robbed in Silverstone for a teammate that was 0.5s slower/lap.

Not to mention the wins thrown away by his team in Spain, Monaco, Hungary. Aswell has a podium in Baku.

https://imgbb.com/

LEC - red
SAI - white

Almost 0.5s a lap quicker after they made the switch when Sainz' engineer said "this pace is not good enough, we invert the cars" I'm paraphrasing but I'm sure you can find the exact radio message somewhere.

Charles seems to overdo the self critical aspect and bashes himself only to go back and do a similar mistake or get paranoid and bash the team or get grumpy about his teammate.

Charles has only thrown the team under the bus once i his 5 years at the team. Canada '23 where he asked for soft tyres when the track was clear dry enough for dry tyres i.e Albon in P1.

Let's look back to 2022.. remember that Leclerc took himself out of the championship because of errors in qualifying and race.

Leclerc only driver errors in a competitive session was Imola - France, the rest of his shortcomings were due to reliability and strategic errors. Difference is LEC was in a chamionship battle, Sainz was hanging on for dear life to outscore the Mercedes guys, who for a good majority of the season had a car 0.8% slower.

We see drivers like Hamilton, Alonso, Max, Vettel who continuously improve their driving methodically and calmly.

“Only with Lewis Hamilton have I seen as much self-criticism as I saw with Charles Leclerc,” Vasseur, now Alfa Romeo team boss, told Speed Week.

“They’re the only drivers I saw in my career who criticised themselves even after winning. Every other driver pats himself on the shoulder. I mean – they won!

“But they both knew that they could have driven better. They were relentless in that way,” Vasseur added.

Take it from someone who has worked closely with both drivers.

It's an interesting driver pairing, but looking on the score board now, you can kind of see where Sainz, though slower, has used his maturity and strategic brain to be the one with the better results.

Wheres Perez in this season? He is in the fastest car and known as 'tyre whisperer'. You still need to be a fast driver to contest championships, your majurtiy alone doesn't win you races

Podium count in 2023

LEC - 2
SAI - 0

Pole Positions

LEC - 2*
SAI - 0

I remind you in 2023 that 2 podiums have been stripped form Leclerc this season due to reliability (BAH) and communication errors (MON). Would you really be having this converstation if the poodium tally was 4-0? The difference is currently 9 points with 2 DNF's in Sainz' favor? Do you really see that as someone who will lead a team to a championship?

If you are going to make such strong statements, at least make a valid argument in case for Sainz. Its always "Sainz is more complete and mature" but there never any evidence to back your statments.

I've entertained this argument enough, it is starting to feel like trolls are just out to re-ignite a completely rinsed out topic with nothing to back themsleves with.

Good posts and good data.
Nah i'm not trolling. I guess it's hard to explain, but I am just not seeing the Leclerc and Ferrari methodical build up to challenge RB. The team needs a character like Sainz right now, but Sainz just doesn't have the talent to land the killer blow.
Last year those same races you mentioned, Imola and France, were very critical. Those were huge mistakes, akin to Vettel in germany 2018? where he binned it. Leclerc was never going to win against RB18, but he really dumped all hopes with those errors.
I guess in conclusion, both drivers' strengths and weaknesses cancel each other out, in my opinion, and based on results, it would be hard to say who should be replaced by another driver from outside. Changing Leclerc or Sainz yeilds the same results if say a Norris comes to the team.

[scuderiabrandon]

That list has mostly very competent drivers apart from Badoer. Goes to show that discussing Sainz or Leclerc is really nitpicking. As a neutral in this discussion, from my observation Leclerc has more talent, but Sainz is more complete, and this explains why he is usually closer to the podium. Leclerc is very volatile and the less likely to mount a challenge in a championship.
Let's look back to 2022.. remember that Leclerc took himself out of the championship because of errors in qualifying and race.
All sainz lacks is the ability to get the most out of the tyres with Ferrari and some raw pace. But looking on his history with Mclaren and Renault, he was actually a strong long run pace driver whenever he gets the tyre working.

As long as Leclerc is with Ferrari they will not win a championship. And this is not because he does not have the talent, but he has does not seem to have the emotional intelligence to look inside himself and surgically fix his weaknesses. We see drivers like Hamilton, Alonso, Max, Vettel who continuously improve their driving methodically and calmly. Charles seems to overdo the self critical aspect and bashes himself only to go back and do a similar mistake or get paranoid and bash the team or get grumpy about his teammate.

Until he fixes his head, I would say Sainz is the more likely to bring Ferrari a championship. Just give him a rocket ship that's kind on its tyres.
Leclerc is stronger, but too volatile. With a rocket ship, I can see him driving over the limit when it's not needed, or not biding his time and imploding mentally.

It's an interesting driver pairing, but looking on the score board now, you can kind of see where Sainz, though slower, has used his maturity and strategic brain to be the one with the better results.

Sainz is in his 9th fooking season in F1 with 172 race starts barely has 1 win to show that too was a gift from Mattia.

Really dont want be mean on the guy just because some of his fans want to oversell him. He is decent driver but from what angle he looks a championship matarial driver to you only you can explain.

Secondly All i could conclude from your essay is your whole argument is based on 1 Narrative that Leclerc makes mistakes and Sainz doesn’t which can be easily countered with numbers. This too many mistakes narrative has already been discussed and debunked here many times. If we really go into the details we can clearly differentiate how many he actually did and how many the team or other factors played in. mistakes proves nothing as long is driver is talented and provided with a fast car.also by your logic RB should have dumped Max back in 2017-18 only.

Leclerc and Sainz are in the same boat. Sainz does not have great results over his career because he just never had a good car. Charles was lucky enough to have driven for Ferrari for much longer in a race winning car.

The Ferrari is his first good car for Carlos and I am comparing his run with Leclcerc's and I couldn't care less about the both of them as a fan. I am not a Sainz fan either, but I do not see much difference between them. The fact we are having this debate is proof that they are quite close in terms of delivering for the team.

Mistakes prove a driver is not bringing results it's as simple as that. What's the point of having talent if you have nothing to show for it?

Leclerc will always be a riskier choice than Sainz, and in fact I think Sainz is more marketable. And hear my out, I am not trolling. But Sainz has worked with at least 4 teams and has more leadership qualities than Charles, who is somewhat of sheltered and emotional driver. Leclcerc is just not ready to lead a team; just too many errors, lacks strategical brain, and is just a negative and energy sucking guy. Sainz is more strategic, more forward looking and more positive.
The only thing saving Charles right now is his willingness to take more risks during qualifying, which results in seemingly having immense speed. I would change my mind about him if he at least changes his attitude and gets a little more tactical.

Leclerc will always be a riskier choice than Sainz, and in fact I think Sainz is more marketable.

I perosnally don't care about driver marketability, but just to proof a point about the nonsense spewing, Leclerc is the 2nd most followed driver on the grid after LH, therefore more marketable. It just goes to show why we get so upset about this topic when it the same bs speculation. You are doing nothing for your case without bringing anything of value to the argument.

But Sainz has worked with at least 4 teams and has more leadership qualities than Charles

Again with your logic Max and Lewis terrible leaders.

"Charles Leclerc tries to push the whole Ferrari team to use the same approach: to reach the maximum every day, even at the factory and not only during race weekends. Solve technical problems through direct and constructive face-to-face meetings."

Not ready to lead a team

The fact we are having this debate is proof that they are quite close in terms of delivering for the team.

We aren't debating, we debunking terrible, terrible narratives that simply aren't true.

The only thing saving Charles right now is his willingness to take more risks during qualifying

This tells me everything I need to know, and I'll leave it at that to avoid a sticky situation

[scuderiabrandon]

https://www.funoanalisitecnica.com/2023 ... heria.html

"Furthermore, according to information gathered by our editorial staff, a new version of rear wing capable of optimizing vertical load at the rear COULD make its debut at the Hungaroring"

[codetower]

Leclerc and Sainz are in the same boat. Sainz does not have great results over his career because he just never had a good car. Charles was lucky enough to have driven for Ferrari for much longer in a race winning car.

The Ferrari is his first good car for Carlos and I am comparing his run with Leclcerc's and I couldn't care less about the both of them as a fan. I am not a Sainz fan either, but I do not see much difference between them. The fact we are having this debate is proof that they are quite close in terms of delivering for the team.

Mistakes prove a driver is not bringing results it's as simple as that. What's the point of having talent if you have nothing to show for it?

Leclerc will always be a riskier choice than Sainz, and in fact I think Sainz is more marketable. And hear my out, I am not trolling. But Sainz has worked with at least 4 teams and has more leadership qualities than Charles, who is somewhat of sheltered and emotional driver. Leclcerc is just not ready to lead a team; just too many errors, lacks strategical brain, and is just a negative and energy sucking guy. Sainz is more strategic, more forward looking and more positive.
The only thing saving Charles right now is his willingness to take more risks during qualifying, which results in seemingly having immense speed. I would change my mind about him if he at least changes his attitude and gets a little more tactical.

Can someone just create a new thread for this topic?

A few of your points I disagree with:

Leclerc lacking strategic brain... Last years battles with verstappen showed pretty good in-race strategy. He just tends to lean more on his team who "should" have more data. That's what they are there for.

Too many errors: When you are in a sub-par car, trying to extract the most from it, you will make errors. This year Sainz has arguably made as many errors (with more experience) as Charles.

Negative and energy sucking guy: C'mon. The only "energy lifts" I've seen from Ferrari in the last 3 years have all come from Charles.

No one is arguing that Carlos is not a very talented driver. But as far as comparison between the two, let's look at the last 3 years alone. They've both been in the same car with the same NEW regulations. It's like both drivers jumping into a new car. No advantage for Charles... no advantage for Carlos. Forget the points, that's irrelevant. Russel had more points than Hamilton last year... I don't think ANYONE will say he's better than Hamilton. But in the last 2.5 years, Leclerc has had more podiums, more wins, more Poles than Sainz. And more "on the edge of your seat" exiting moments, In the same car as Sainz.

Everyone has their opinions, this is just mine. You see special things from drivers, even in bad cars; You've seen it from Lando, from Russel, and from Leclerc. I just haven't seen anything special from Sainz.

[JPower]

You see special things from drivers, even in bad cars; You've seen it from Lando, from Russel, and from Leclerc. I just haven't seen anything special from Sainz.

2019 - McLaren finishes best of the rest, team points leader, 8 top-6 finishes(3 dominant teams that year)
2020- McLaren wins best of the rest, team points leader, P3 in Austria and Monza qualifying in 4th-5th quickest car, 9 top-6 finishes, 4 top-5 in the last 8
2021 - Ferrari wins best of the rest, team points leader, 15 race points streak

Sainz made his name in bad/decent cars. He’s doing it again this season. He might not have the outright pace of a Leclerc but he’s no stranger to getting results out of a car. Ferrari didn’t choose him for no reason.

Given his overall closeness to Leclerc over the past 55 races or so and the expectations that he was going to be where Perez has been to Max ie a half second behind on average playing support, I think he’s overperformed. No one was expecting him to be as close as he’s been. In my calculations has him only 0.1-.15% from Leclerc in qualifying across their time together. The list of drivers doing that is short IMO. You can claim he’s not “elite” but I’m don’t think he’s any less of a driver than a Russell or Norris overall, and he’s very close to Charles as well.

[Xyz22]

You see special things from drivers, even in bad cars; You've seen it from Lando, from Russel, and from Leclerc. I just haven't seen anything special from Sainz.

2019 - McLaren finishes best of the rest, team points leader, 8 top-6 finishes(3 dominant teams that year)
2020- McLaren wins best of the rest, team points leader, P3 in Austria and Monza qualifying in 4th-5th quickest car, 9 top-6 finishes, 4 top-5 in the last 8
2021 - Ferrari wins best of the rest, team points leader, 15 race points streak

Sainz made his name in bad/decent cars. He’s doing it again this season. He might not have the outright pace of a Leclerc but he’s no stranger to getting results out of a car. Ferrari didn’t choose him for no reason.

Given his overall closeness to Leclerc over the past 55 races or so and the expectations that he was going to be where Perez has been to Max ie a half second behind on average playing support, I think he’s overperformed. No one was expecting him to be as close as he’s been. In my calculations has him only 0.1-.15% from Leclerc in qualifying across their time together. The list of drivers doing that is short IMO. You can claim he’s not “elite” but I’m don’t think he’s any less of a driver than a Russell or Norris overall, and he’s very close to Charles as well.

Sainz is a very quick driver especially with cars that have a weak front end, which apparently is a Ferrari speciality. These cars though will never be able to win. In fact with the F1 75 in his 1.0 spec (a car capable of winning race) Sainz was nowhere near Leclerc and a had a gap similar to Perez from Max in race trim.

The real issue though is that Sainz is a very "political" driver. This is why i think Ferrari should retain him if they want to get rid of Charles or if he simply won't renew the contract. It doesn't make any sense to keep a driver that has very different needs in terms of balance and always put the team under pressure behind the scenes when you already have Leclerc.

[JordanMugen]

To the question "who I would put in the car if there was option to ? "

I think drivers are the least of Ferrari's problems, but I would take Leclerc and Verstappen. So both Ferrari or Red Bull should consider pursuing such a pairing. Red Bull are probably best placed to put that pairing together, so I would offer Leclerc a contract if I were Red Bull Racing.

Realistically, the Russell and Hamilton pairing at Mercedes is just as good though. It is hard to split the tier one drivers.

Sainz is a very quick driver especially with cars that have a weak front end, which apparently is a Ferrari speciality.

Leclerc: "The car (F1-75) at the beginning of the season had a strong front-end which I prefer."

Verstappen: "Understeer cannot be fast."

Leclerc and Verstappen: the perfect pairing?

What is unfortunate about the tenor of the LEC-SAI discussion is that each respective side seems intent on tearing the other driver down.

Similar to the Sainz-Verstappen battle at Toro Rosso, hence Red Bull's keenness to separate the drivers and never pair them again.

[ringo]

I perosnally don't care about driver marketability, but just to proof a point about the nonsense spewing, Leclerc is the 2nd most followed driver on the grid after LH, therefore more marketable. It just goes to show why we get so upset about this topic when it the same bs speculation. You are doing nothing for your case without bringing anything of value to the argument.

I was more talking about marketability amongst the teams. I should have clarified that. I think at this stage they're viewed around the same to the team principals.
Anyhow, I wont pull the thread too much on the drivers, as I really am not a fan of any of them, but Sainz is always underrated in this thread quite often. Though the drivers are very relevant to the team, at the moment they aren't really under pressure as much as the team organization is or the car itself to get the results.

[bluechris]

For me Charles simply can give me once the fantasy driple like Messi in a race, off course i like Ronaldo also but my heart and my brain loves Messi more which in my comparison is Leclerc and i don't mind if he bin's it some times.
I've had it with drivers that are "good" but don't bring anything fancy to the table which translates to a heroic pass or correct late braking or anything.
I want 22 Leclerc's in the race and i don't want 22 Sainz's even if i rate Sainz pretty high.

[Mr.S]

Sainz is a solid No. 2 possibly the best No. 2 now on the grid. But he won't win titles unless Bottas is his teammate. And he is possibly one of the luckiest drivers that I have seen (Luck vs Teammate ofcourse).

Don't know where Leclerc will end up - Mercedes, Aston etc ? But Ferrari will have to find a New No. 1 soon if Leclerc leads. Sainz is going to 29 in a couple of months. He is not as young as Leclerc or Verstappen.

[JPower]

Sainz is a very quick driver especially with cars that have a weak front end, which apparently is a Ferrari speciality. These cars though will never be able to win. In fact with the F1 75 in his 1.0 spec (a car capable of winning race) Sainz was nowhere near Leclerc and a had a gap similar to Perez from Max in race trim.

The real issue though is that Sainz is a very "political" driver. This is why i think Ferrari should retain him if they want to get rid of Charles or if he simply won't renew the contract. It doesn't make any sense to keep a driver that has very different needs in terms of balance and always put the team under pressure behind the scenes when you already have Leclerc.

We're a long way from the F1-75 1.0 so I don't know how relevant that is to this conversation. Every driver has cars that they are more comfortable with. Saying they won't be able to win is greatly simplifying the complexities of being quick in F1.

As for the rest, no team pairs drivers on what they prefer in a racecar. They want pace, that's it. Outside of Mercedes and McLaren, I can't really think of two driver pairings on the grid with similar styles. And thinking Leclerc isn't political given his management team is a laughable thought.

[Xyz22]

Sainz is a very quick driver especially with cars that have a weak front end, which apparently is a Ferrari speciality. These cars though will never be able to win. In fact with the F1 75 in his 1.0 spec (a car capable of winning race) Sainz was nowhere near Leclerc and a had a gap similar to Perez from Max in race trim.

The real issue though is that Sainz is a very "political" driver. This is why i think Ferrari should retain him if they want to get rid of Charles or if he simply won't renew the contract. It doesn't make any sense to keep a driver that has very different needs in terms of balance and always put the team under pressure behind the scenes when you already have Leclerc.

We're a long way from the F1-75 1.0 so I don't know how relevant that is to this conversation. Every driver has cars that they are more comfortable with. Saying they won't be able to win is greatly simplifying the complexities of being quick in F1.

As for the rest, no team pairs drivers on what they prefer in a racecar. They want pace, that's it. Outside of Mercedes and McLaren, I can't really think of two driver pairings on the grid with similar styles. And thinking Leclerc isn't political given his management team is a laughable thought.

I never said Leclerc isn't political. Leclerc / Sainz pair makes very little sense for Ferrari. Do they want to bet on Sainz? That's a good option but they need to get rid of Leclerc in that case.