“Don’t Put Helmut Marko’s Words in My Mouth”: Frederic Vasseur Disses Red Bull Antics to Evade Scathing Accusations

The past three race weekends might be ones to forget for Carlos Sainz. In Spielberg, Silverstone, and Budapest, his SF-23 looked faster around the tracks. Despite that, he couldn’t do the one thing he would’ve wanted to—beat his teammate Charles Leclerc. At one point or the other in all three races, he was stuck behind Leclerc despite being faster. And Ferrari’s team orders ensured it stayed that way. Although Sainz was the team player in Budapest, questions regarding Frederic Vasseur’s bias toward Leclerc were raised. But he shut them down and used Red Bull’s name in defense to do it.

When Ferrari favored Leclerc in Austria and Silverstone by asking Sainz not to fight him despite being faster, Sainz wasn’t too happy about it. So when a similar situation arose in Hungary, Sainz decided to stay behind Leclerc on his own. But after a slow pit stop for the Monegasque, he was allowed to undercut Sainz during the second round of pit stops. And after the successful undercut, Sainz finished behind Leclerc yet again. While Sainz defended his team, saying Ferrari made that call to make up for the bad stop, many Spanish broadcasters and publishers weren’t happy that their countryman isn’t treated equally.

When asked about this supposed favoritism after the Hungarian GP, in an exclusive interview with Corriere dello Sport, as quoted by formulapassion.it, Vasseur said, “Betting on one of the two drivers? No, no, don’t put Helmut Marko’s words in my mouth! I never said it, nor have I ever done it.” [Translated by Google]  The situation at Red Bull isn’t a secret. Everyone knows Max Verstappen is the first driver. While joining the team in 2021, Sergio Perez’s sole purpose was to ensure Max won the championship. And unfortunately for Perez, he’s remained the second driver. And Vasseur assures that’s not the case at Ferrari.

He continued, “I’m just saying that if you want to aim for the drivers’ championship, at a certain point in the season, you have to make a choice and prefer who is further up in the standings. However, we are not today in these conditions.”

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Sainz has been ahead of Leclerc in the standings for the better part of the season, but considering what has happened in the past few races, it would appear that it’s Leclerc who’s leading. Even though that’s not the case, there’s a reason Ferrari insists on Leclerc staying ahead.

The reason behind Frederic Vasseur’s “favoritism” explained

During the Austrian GP—where Sainz finished sixth and Leclerc finished second—Carlos had the better pace throughout the weekend. Despite that, Ferrari held him back. While discussing the situation, F1 journalist Roberto Chinchero said, “[Sainz] did the whole weekend better than Leclerc, but not Q3, and I think it’s frustrating for him. Charles, on the other hand, has the talent to put himself there at the key moment.”

According to Chinchero, no matter how fast a driver is in practice sessions, their performance during qualifying is what matters. And Carlos hasn’t managed to beat Leclerc in qualifying over the past few weekends, which is why Ferrari has been favoring the Monegasque. “He has to be in a position to be in front. If he’s always the one behind, the situation gets complicated.”

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Do you think Ferrari has a clear first driver despite what Frederic Vasseur said?

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