There are simmering tensions with an F1 team.
And believe it or not, it isn’t Red Bull.
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As all eyes focus on the tensions between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez following their blow ups during the 2022 season, it’s another front of the grid contender that’s facing its own issues.
Ferrari have endured a miserable start to the 2023 in comparison to their 2022 season and it appears the lacklustre display is causing some serious friction.
After the first three races last season, Charles Leclerc was leading the championship race after winning in Bahrain and Australia.
His teammate Carlos Sainz had captured a second and third to sit third on the overall standings with the team leading the constructors title with 104 points.
It’s a stark contrast one year on with the team holding onto a lacklustre 26 points after the opening three races.
Their best result behind the Red Bull dominance came in the season opener in Bahrain when Sainz finished fourth.
Leclerc on the other hand only has a season-best seventh place finish in Saudi Arabia. In Bahrain and Australia he failed to finish.
It was Down Under however where the simmering tension between the pair breached the surface as Leclerc took issue with his teammate.
The 25-year-old wasn’t happy with Sainz over his conduct during qualifying which saw him cross the line with the seventh fastest time.
It led the Monegasque star to call out his Spanish teammate for failing to provide him with a better tow around the track.
Teammates will alternate who the lead driver is throughout qualifying with the car in front a few seconds ahead to allow the car behind to gain an aerodynamic advantage.
But Leclerc wasn’t happy with what eventuated as he took aim at Sainz for failing to fulfil his role.
“Big thanks to Carlos for the tow,” Leclerc said. “Got a bit of speed there, always nice,” Leclerc muttered sarcastically over the team radio.
While the comment may not seem like much, one Formula 1 pundit believes the remark shows there is a lot more going on between the pair behind closed doors.
“I thought it was odd that he made that public, that he was upset about that, because you’ve got to live in your own world and you’ve got to be very cocooned when you’re at Ferrari. You’ve got your guys and you’ve got to work in a very apolitical way, so it was quite a political reaction I think he had to it all,” Peter Windsor said on his YouTube channel.
“To me, even if Charles felt that Carlos was in a position to help him, I think it’s quite naive of him to think that Carlos would. Why would Carlos Sainz help Charles Leclerc any more than Charles would help Carlos really?
“Maybe he would because he doesn’t really ever see Carlos as a true threat, but Carlos Sainz has just come off a very good Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
He later added: “I think, partly because of that, he [Leclerc] didn’t qualify well and he had a terrible race. We all know what happened in the race and that’s part of not qualifying well.”
While all eyes continue to focus on Red Bull and the reports of simmering tension, Ferrari might finally usurp them by completely blowing things apart.
