German former racing driver Ralf Schumacher, the younger brother of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher, feels that the Scuderia Ferrari “pecking order” for the 2022 Formula 1 season has already been decided, which will become a difficult situation to accept for Carlos Sainz.
The Spanish driver scored two solid podium finishes in the first two races of the season, in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, but had a very difficult race at the Albert Park circuit and as a result fell 38 points behind his Maranello team-mate Charles Leclerc in the Drivers’ standings ahead of the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, as the Monegasque driver having had a near-perfect start to the new F1 campaign.
In all honesty, a problem with Carlos Sainz’s starter motor in the final moments of the qualifying session for the Australian Grand Prix affected his starting position, which then led to a series of unfortunate events, ending with his mistake on the second lap: Carlos spun out of the race, while Charles Leclerc dominated the Melbourne event and extended his lead in the standings.
Despite the fact that just three races have taken place this year, Ralf Schumacher believes the Maranello team have decided to focus on maximizing the performances of Charles Leclerc, in a similar manner to how his brother became team leader with Ferrari and was helped by Eddie Irvine, Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa.
“The pecking order at Ferrari is already established,” he said, in a recent interview for F1 Insider – “Carlos Sainz knows that too and is correspondingly angry. There was a time when someone [brother, Michael] was very successful and it was also the case that you knew relatively early on which driver you were concentrating on.” – he explained.
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However, Scuderia Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto repeatedly stated that no team orders will come into play at this early stage of the season and confirmed that Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are still “free to fight” it out at the front of the field, in case they run close to each other at any moment of the race. Despite the fact that Carlos is now behind in the drivers’ standings, Mattia Binotto pointed out that there are a lot of races remaining this season, which means there is still plenty of scope for things to change during the year: “It’s only three races which have been done now. There are still 20 races left, hopefully 19 or 20. So the championship is still very long. Our drivers are free to fight, and I am really looking forward and enjoying that they are battling for a good place, and first place, if possible.” – the Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal explained.
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