Ferrari went into the Las Vegas weekend as favourites to win the F1 race along the Strip. Yet as the weekend evolved it was clear it was Mercedes in fact who may be the team to beat. Topping each of the practice session time sheets, the W15 was clearly quickest over a single lap and started qualifying as favourites to claim the pole position.

George Russell indeed was quickest in Q3 but mistakes from Lewis Hamilton saw him finish the session last and in tenth place at the start of the race. Race simulations in free practice three appeared to suggest it would be Ferrari who fared better during the Grand Prix with tyre wear. The low grip circuit means the tyres grain as they slide around rather than degrade and the rubber on the Scuderia’s cars look to be in the best nick following the long runs on Friday evening.

At lights out Russell retained the lead of the race, but Charles Leclerc plundered space on the inside of turn one passing Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and his team mate who had started behind the Mercedes driver. Yet as the stint unfolded Leclerc suffered from a high level of graining and let Sainz by voluntarily due to his lack of pace.

 

 

 

Ferrari graining in Vegas

Carlos then suffered a similar drop off with Leclerc regaining the position as the drivers made their first pit stops. It was quickly clear any hope of making the 50 laps with just one pit stop would be difficult for Ferrari and Sainz came on the radio demanding the team decide quickly as this would affect how he used his tyres.

Sainz then realised his hard tyres were going off and demanded the team ready for his pit stop. Silence was the stern replay over team radio for two laps before the Spaniard was given the instruction to “box box.” As he approached the pit lane entry, the team called off the stop at the last minute and Carlos completed another lap.

When he asked his engineer what had happened, the reply came that the team was not ready for him. Sainz angrily responded, “Come on you guys!!!”  He knew each of those laps was costing him race time.

The team were ready next time around and Carlos received the fresh rubber he’d been asking for for almost five minutes.

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Strategy team dither at Ferrari

Ferrari believed it was too early to stop and so kept Charles Leclerc out on track for another three laps which undid much of the damage done to his team mate. As Leclerc was leaving the pit lane he was told by his engineer it would be “really close” with Sainz whose tyres were up to temperature.

Leclerc was told by the team to look after his tyres and that his team mate had been instructed not to pressurise him, or make an overtake. At the next turn with warmer tyres and brakes, Carlos swept around the outside of Leclerc, who muttered over team radio “maybe try in Spanish.”

All this had seen Lewis Hamilton overtake the Ferrari pair who were now running in third and fourth. Whilst clearly unhappy Leclerc followed his team mate home to finish just off the podium and on the cool down lap the damn holding back his emotions clearly burst.

When told Bozzi his engineer to pick up rubber for extra weight, Leclerc replied sarcastically: “Yes, whatever you want, as always,” before unloading an expletive laden outburst that Max would be proud of.

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Leclerc BLAST over team radio

Bozzi: Charles, you did your job… okay, thank you.

Leclerc: Yeah. Yeah-yeah. Yeah, I did my job, but, uh… being nice f***s me over all the f***ing time. All the f***ing time. It’s not even being nice, it’s just being respectful, I know I need to-

Bozzi: Charles…..

Leclerc: -shut up, but at one point it’s always the same. Oh my f***ing God.

Bozzi: Okay. But anyway, you did the right thing for the team.

 

 

 

Leclerc reveals team instructions

Bozzi then again reminded Leclerc again to pick up rubber, only to receive a “yeah-yeah, f**ing pick up, what the f**k you want” in reply. The on board camera showed. The monegasque punching his steering wheel in anger.

When asked about the incident in the paddock after the race, Charles tried not to be drawn but couldn’t resist. “I think I did my part in the first stint when I had the tyres that were completely gone, I didn’t want to fight so I let Carlos by and then the rest is – we will discuss it within the team. I don’t want to go into details,” Leclerc continued.

The interviewer from Sky pressed Charles further and he did reveal it was “not about the team favouring one or the other” – but rather about “things that we have been told, and that weren’t respected”.

“Again, I’ve already said too much. I don’t want to go into the details whatsoever. It’s just frustrating when it’s like this and it’s been frustrating for me, but I can understand not everybody understands.”

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Charles hopes for P2 in the championship

As he walked away, the camera picked him up muttering something about P2 doesn’t matter anyway, clearly with Ferrari’s high expectations for Las Vegas, Leclerc thought he may be significantly closing the gap to Lando Norris in P2 in the championship.

Carlos too was unhappy with how the team had handled matters. “I asked the team two or three times to box me, to get me out of the way, and get me a new set of hards to make sure I wasn’t losing a lot of race time by having to let Charles by and then having to fight Lewis at the same time. For some reason we didn’t box.

“I ended up having to let Charles by a lap later, and losing a lot of race time. And by the time I was going to box we didn’t even box.

“So… I guess he’s not happy but I’m also not happy by the way things were handled at the time. And yeah, I think no one’s happy today in the team because we all expected a bit more,” concluded the Spaniard.

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Vasseur plays down the row

The Ferrari team boss accepted Leclerc was probably unhappy about being told his team mate wouldn’t put him under pressure and was then overtaken but refused to criticise Sainz or any of the engineers.

“I think it’s more the fact that the situation was really difficult for everybody. We will discuss tonight, it won’t be an issue,” said Fred Vasseur adding he was “not worried at all” that Leclerc may be less of a team player in future.

“I think again, it’s always the same story,” Vasseur added. “That they have to make comments – or they don’t have to make comments, but they’re doing comments – in the lap, and they don’t have always the full picture.

“We will discuss together and it won’t be an issue.”

Under Vasseur a number of changes were made to the way the strategy team operated given their regular glaring errors they repeated under Mattia Binotto. The mistakes in Las Vegas may only be a blip, but the drivers will be concerned over the lengthy delay as they debated tyre life.

In a tighter race and with victory on offer, today the Ferrari strategy team may have  cost one of their drivers the race.

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Marko indicates the end for Perez

The speculation over Sergio Perez future has been frenzied for some time, but the recent mood music from the Mexican’s camp has been super positive. Checo surprised a number of senior F1 observers with his adamant claims in Austin and Mexico City that he would be racing with Red Bull in 2025.

As Formula One entered its summer break, paddock whispers were strong that Sergio would not return after the four week vacation, with widespread reports of a contract exit clause that Red Bull could enact should Checo be more than 100 points behind his team mate.

Yet Red Bull quickly made it clear, they would be retaining their driver line up for at least the next four Grand Prix as they believed some of Sergio’s favoured circuits were coming up. He has previous wins in both Baku and Singapore, but this year Checo was to fair poorly across the fours events before the new Autumn break… READ MORE