So gutted for Charles Leclerc who truly deserved the top of the podium with a masterful drive until his hybrid recovery (MGU-H) failed leaving him about 140 bhp down on power in the closing stages of the Grand Prix in Bahrain.
At least the safety car kept him on the podium and he was the epitome of class during the interview with Martin Brundle.
Three things to take away for me:
- He is almost certainly going to be topping podiums sooner than later.
- It’s going to be really hard to not like this kid…he has such a great personality and clearly got amazing talent to already be challenging for the title after only two races for the Scuderia.
- Vettel has a lot of questions to answer…another unforced spin when put under pressure and Leclerc’s made it clear that a four-time world champion isn’t going to stop him from going wheel-to-wheel.
Two races done and it’s already a delicious fight at the front of the championship! 🙂
Erik Williams
31 Mar 2019(Mark Sink)
I thought the SC was unnecessary. Local yellows would have been enough, if not, then virtual SC. But, did you see Ferrari’s team principal’s reaction to Martin saying he had a start driver in Leclerc? First he makes a grimaced face and shuts his eyes, then later lifts his arms and should in a shrugging manner, then answers the question with “we had a great car”. I think he’s upset at how much he’s paying Vettel and doesn’t want to pay Leclerc any more by having to admit how good he is.
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I think that’s a fair observation…if they were waving double yellows where the two Renaults stopped, that would have mandated deployment of the VSC according to the regulations.
I was thinking more along the lines that it would have really sucked for Charles to fall completely off the podium which had the SC not been deployed, Max would have certainly caught him up and passed him before the chequered flag.
Anywho, I was already very sceptical of Mattia Binotto’s intentions…it seemed to me that Sergio Marchionne’s corpse wasn’t even cold before he hatched his scheme to kick Mauricio Arrivabene to the kerb. Whilst he’s certainly more skilled as a team principal than Arrivabene turned out to be…it was his Machiavellian scheming to put him to the sword that just really sorted ill with me.
So it’s not terribly surprising that he’d make it absolutely clear that Vettel is his favoured driver regardless of Leclerc’s performance on track (to wit, the team orders keeping Charles behind Vettel in Melbourne!). It’s not like keeping Raikkonen and promoting Leclerc was an option in the off season due to Vettel’s contract but I’m sure he will find a way to screw Leclerc on the money when Seb is put out to pasture.
Right now, I’m just having a hard time seeing Seb get a fifth world title with the Scuderia…the four he got with Red Bull were with a car as dominant in its day as Merc has been the past few seasons. In an evenly matched car with pressure applied to him by Lewis…he’s binned the car every time.