“We accept it with thanks,” says Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko on the behavior of the two Ferrari drivers at the start of the Formula 1 sprint in Spielberg.
Because instead of working together to attack Max Verstappen at the top, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz made life difficult for each other – not for the first time this season.
Sainz had passed his teammate on the outside at Turn 1 before Leclerc fought back after Turn 3. A little later there was another duel between the two in which Leclerc had the upper hand. Max Verstappen had long since rushed out of the DRS window and was driving towards the sprint victory.
“They really want Red Bull to become world champion,” ex-pilot Ralf Schumacher has no understanding for. Of course, the bulls are happy to see that: “I have to say that Ferrari helped us in that they fought each other,” says Marko on ‘Sky’. “As a result, we easily had a two-second lead and Max then managed it with ease.”
At Ferrari, on the other hand, the mood didn’t seem so good. Leclerc and Sainz only casually high-fived after the sprint, there was no direct look between the two.
Ferrari drivers downplay importance
In the subsequent press conference, Leclerc describes the fight with his team-mate quite soberly: He first lost the position and then won it again. “After that I was second and just tried to manage my tires for the end of the race. But it wasn’t enough to catch up with Max in the end,” said the Monegasque.
Sainz meanwhile downplayed the importance of the duel: “Today you couldn’t win or lose much from the fight. We’re talking about one point more or less,” he dismisses. “Max seemed to be in control up front so it’s not like we lost much.”
Leclerc does not believe that the duel today had a decisive influence either. Although he lost a bit of time, “I doubt whether it would have been enough for the win. Max also managed when he had the lead. We will never know what would have happened.”
“We can’t afford tomorrow”
Another question, however, is what will happen tomorrow. Actually, with a view to the World Championship standings, Ferrari cannot afford to simply let Verstappen pull ahead because you wear yourself out in your own duel. “Tyre management will probably become much more important than it is today. What we did today, we probably can’t afford tomorrow,” Leclerc clarifies.
Does that mean that an announcement is needed in the race? “I don’t know. We don’t decide that. It’s more up to Mattia,” he pushes the decision-making power to Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto. “Mattia and the team will decide that,” Sainz nods and emphasizes once again that we didn’t lose much today.
“We just have to make sure that we are closer at the beginning of the stint and at the end of the stint. We have to try that tomorrow,” said the Spaniard.
“We’ll both try to make life as difficult as possible for Max in the championship. We have to go full throttle because he’s way ahead in the championship,” says Sainz, who also has to admit: “He drives very well and saw also here all weekend fast. It will be difficult to beat him tomorrow.”