Which Ferrari driver will be on the podium at Monza? Will it be Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz? After Sainz consistently had the upper hand on Leclerc throughout the Italian GP last weekend, the Spaniard pipped his teammate to pole position by 0.067s. Although Sainz won the battle to impress the Tifosi on Saturday, Leclerc sought revenge on Sunday, which ended in a fight to the line for the last podium place. With the Monegasque emerging second-best, could this have pointed to a power shift at Ferrari?

Since Leclerc joined Ferrari in 2019, he’s been the golden boy, the driver expected to give the Scuderia its next championship. But being a Ferrari driver—as prestigious as it is—comes with its own pressures. Leclerc might just be succumbing to them.

Has Carlos Sainz overthrown Charles Leclerc as the number one at Ferrari?

The Italian GP weekend is a special one for Ferrari. The home race feels, along with the roars of the Tifosi, is everything a team could hope for. Much to the Tifosi’s delight, Ferrari turned up at Monza and delivered the highlight of their season so far. With Sainz on pole and Leclerc in P3, the Monegasque devised the ultimate plan for a 1-2 finish—overtaking Max Verstappen in P2 at the start and using DRS from Sainz to stay ahead. When that didn’t work out, and the Red Bulls were P1 and P2, Leclerc decided to give the Tisosi heart attack after heart attack.

On Lap 46 of 51, Sergio Perez overtook Sainz for P2, leaving Leclerc right behind the Spaniard. From Lap 47, it was a dogfight between the two Ferraris to the line, one that could’ve ended in tragedy because of how close their wheel-to-wheel action was. With Sainz coming out on top, two-time world champion Emerson Fittipaldi gave his two cents on Leclerc’s mindset. As quoted by Formula Passion, he said, “I see that Leclerc is under more pressure than Sainz, and this tension comes from within. Charles wants to achieve certain results, but they don’t arrive. On the other hand, Sainz seems to be more consistent when it comes to finishing the race than Leclerc.” [Translated by Google]

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For the past two races, that has been the case. “When you have a teammate who has the same car, it starts to create a certain pressure. If you are not mentally strong, it will make things difficult. In general, when a driver starts to generate too much pressure on himself, it is the worst thing he can do. We know that Charles is talented, but in my opinion, he needs to be more relaxed,” added Fittipaldi.

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After the Italian GP, Sainz has retaken the lead in the Ferrari championship battle. Although Leclerc would want to reestablish his top-dog status after losing out to Sainz, he believes that the heart attacks he gave were all in the spirit of racing.

Carlos Sainz echoed Leclerc’s sentiment about their battle

With Carlos Sainz leading the 3-4 for Ferrari and Leclerc right on his heels, the Monegasque went for every opportunity he got to be the leading Ferrari. Seeing how close they came to contact, the pit wall asked Leclerc to hold position and bring the car home. Despite this, he attempted a late lunge into Turn 1 on the last lap but locked up and backed out. After the race, he said he “enjoyed” the battle with Sainz despite emerging second best. Listening to this, Nico Rosberg gave his thoughts on the subject.

The 2016 champion said, “I was looking and thinking, ‘Is this genuine, what’s going on now?’ Yes, I think it was. So I’m struggling. Is he too nice? What’s going on?” Following what Rosberg said, as reported by Formula Passion, Sainz said, “If I had been Charles in the position of having to fight for a podium finish, obviously I wouldn’t have liked the team orders. I’m not going to lie. In my position, I would have wanted them [to give team orders], not in Charles’. I think it was a borderline decision, but it was a good fight between teammates.” 

With tensions brewing at Ferrari, do you feel the Italian GP marked a power shift from Charles Leclerc to Carlos Sainz?

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