Carlos Sainz has forced his way to become Ferrari’s Lead Driver in 2024 despite TP Frederic Vasseur forcing him out of the team. The Spaniard, who is on a solo mission to secure a picturesque F1 future, is consistently outperforming teammate Charles Leclerc. Though his missing the Saudi Arabian GP has tilted the statistics in Leclerc’s favor, Sainz remains Red Bull’s biggest threat. For Ferrari, this situation is far from ideal – their departing driver is performing better than the one retained. Even Helmut Marko has emphasized this ‘surprising’ development.

“Sainz is a strong character, ambitious and highly motivated,” Marko said after Sainz’s Australian GP victory. The Austrian even declared that the Ferrari driver was on an “incredible high” compared to Leclerc. What also doesn’t help Leclerc is his teammate easily out-qualifying him in the SF24. This could be because Sainz has nothing to lose at Ferrari. Still, the differences in intra-team performance speak volumes.

Though Sainz unexpectedly finished P5, behind Leclerc at the Chinese GP, Red Bull Advisor Helmut Marko still sang his praises. After highlighting Lando Norris’ surprise performance, Marko wrote in his column for Speedweek: “Then comes Carlos Sainz, who was always ahead of Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, except for China. Also in qualifying. That surprised me. Even in qualifying, Sainz drives very aggressively and won impressively in Australia.”

Marko speaks for most F1 fans and critics when he makes such comments on Sainz. The Spaniard could’ve continued his run of out-qualifying his teammate at the Chinese GP as well if it wasn’t for bad timing.

Frederic Vasseur defends Carlos Sainz after “unlucky” Chinese GP

The Chinese GP witnessed two safety car periods. Some drivers benefitted from the safety car aligning with their pit stop window, while others suffered. Carlos Sainz belonged to the latter category, which affected the outcome. He finished 10 seconds behind teammate Charles Leclerc. Team Principal Frederic Vasseur, however, backed his departing driver.

“I think if we lost something, it’s more on the last stint,” Vasseur said after the Chinese GP. “Carlos was a bit unlucky with the timing of the pitstop because he pitted three or four laps before the safety car. He was a bit scared to do a very long stint with the last set of hard and he was a bit conservative at the beginning, but he did very well to manage the long stint.”

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Overall, the Chinese GP was a tough outing for the Maranello outfit. They lacked race pace, and the drivers got forced into more intra-team battles than comfortable. Nonetheless, they stuck to their guns, did damage limitation, and secured a decent result. With a new title sponsor in HP and a one-off blue livery, Ferrari will hope for their 2nd win of the season at the Miami GP up next.