Charles Leclerc‘s and Carlos Sainz’s hopes of winning the championship this season have died out. And for that, the duo, as per an F1 veteran, would have to have some accountability for themselves, as all the failures can’t be pinned on the team. This is so because despite driving the second-best car on the grid, possibly tied with the Aston Martin, the drivers haven’t delivered up to their potential, as Sainz stands fifth and Leclerc stands seventh in the championship with a combined total of 78 points, just three more than Fernando Alonso’s total of 75.

F1 veteran and six-time GP winner Ralf Schumacher has thus rung the alarm for Ferrari as the driver’s mistakes are piling up alongside the lack of car development. For the Maranello-based outfit, the troubles double with drivers losing patience, crashing, and being penalized. Charles Leclerc had two crashes in Miami in the same turn and a DNF in Australia, whereas Sainz was penalized 5 seconds in Australia for his bump into Alonso and 5 seconds in Miami for over-speeding in the pitlane.

Citing all this, Ralf Schumacher asks the team to cut down on driver errors. As quoted by Turkish Motorsport, Ralf told Sky Sports Deutschland, “They have to be a little patient because pilots’ mistakes accumulate. For his experience, Sainz should not get a five-second penalty again.”

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Right at the moment Leclerc registered a DNF in Bahrain, it hampered Ferrari’s start to this season. Since then, Ferrari seems to have lost confidence, and they haven’t been able to fix the problems in the SF-23.

Race pace becomes a headache for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finished P5 and P7, having started P3 and P7, respectively. The trouble for them here lies in the context. In Miami, the Mercedes’ of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton outpaced both the Ferraris. The lack of pace on the Ferrari was glaring. Both drivers even got together to chat immediately after the race.

Noticing the lack of pace, which saw Leclerc struggling to overtake Kevin Magnussen on Sunday, Ralf added, “Not much has changed, but the worrying was the racing pace, which was still very bad. The course is not very good.”

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Certainly, the team has a lot more to work on, and the lack of pace is just an addition to it. With tire degradation already a headache for the team, finding more speed just becomes a daunting task to balance.