Carlos Sainz claims that despite their P3 and P4 finishes, Ferrari was unhappy with the outcome of the 2024 F1 Las Vegas GP as he and Charles Leclerc could not fight for victory.
The Spaniard explained that the team had gone into the weekend optimistic about their chances for the race win. However, their optimism soon turned to frustration when they were unable to match the pace of rivals, Mercedes.
“Yeah, as I said, no one was happy with the outcome of that race.
“I think that one of the predominant reasons is that we were just not fast enough to win that race. And we thought before Sunday, Saturday, that we could actually win it.
“And yeah, probably all that disappointment or that frustration started to build through the race.”
He stated that Ferrari had not executed their best race, highlighting that several mistakes had been made. However, he added, that he did not believe a better result to be possible, even without these mistakes.
“And we didn’t execute our best we can.
“At the same time, even without having executed our best race, we couldn’t have finished better than third and fourth. And we still finished third and fourth. And we can put that behind us.
“We’ve learned our lessons. We’ve learned that there were mistakes done all around.”
Ferrari to “turn the page” after internal discussions
The Ferrari driver confirmed that the team had since had internal discussions to address the issues identified in Las Vegas. He stated that the team had agreed to “turn the page” after these discussions.
“And yeah, we had our discussions, internal discussions, and we managed to do a good job to conclude and to turn the page, which I think is always important.”
“A bit of chaos” in Las Vegas
That Ferrari would need to hold discussions within the team was first indicated by Ferrari team principal, Frédéric Vasseur. While speaking after the Las Vegas GP, Vasseur noted that there had been “a bit of chaos” during the final stint of the race.
This “chaos” arose after Sainz demanded to come into the pitlane for an earlier-than-planned tyre change. This caused some confusion, resulting in the Spaniard having to bail out of his initial pit entry. Sainz was eventually brought into the pitlane ahead of his teammate, Charles Leclerc.
This ultimately resulted in some contention between the teammates when Leclerc, after being changed onto his second set of hard compound tyres, emerged from the pitlane ahead of Sainz.
Despite allegedly being ordered against overtaking his teammate, Sainz passed Leclerc at Turn 4. He ultimately secured his third-place finish as a result of this move.
Sainz’s disregard of the alleged team orders incensed Leclerc. He made his frustration clear over the team radio to engineer Bryan Bozzi.
In his expletive-riddled rant, Leclerc stated that his race had been compromised by him “being nice.” He further criticised Sainz for his lack of respect.
When asked about his driver’s comments, Vasseur stated that he believed Leclerc lacked a complete understanding of the situation. He added that he did not expect any lasting issues between the Ferrari teammates after discussions were held.
Las Vegas incident put behind them after team discussions
Ahead of the Qatar GP, Sainz confirmed that the matter had been resolved between himself and Leclerc. He stated that disagreements “in the heat of the moment” were not uncommon between the drivers.
“It always happens with us.
“We go through some misunderstandings that in the heat of the moment we obviously are quite vocal about and we feel very frustrated about.”
He added that both he and Leclerc had gained “a bit more perspective” after team discussions and individual reflection.
“And after a couple of days have gone by and you can see everything with a bit more perspective, a bit more, relativise everything a bit more, and give yourself a bit of time to analyse things and to conclude what happens, then you realise that when you talk through things you can actually put things, understand them, and put them behind.”
The Spaniard claimed that this kind of reflection was often needed due to the intense competition between himself and Leclerc.
He explained that, as they were in the same car, they were relatively matched on pace. This sometimes resulted in on-track scraps between them.
He said that after many close incidents between them, he and Leclerc had learnt how to resolve any issues.
“And that’s the exercise that we’ve been having to do for four years because we’re always sharing the same piece of tarmac and we’re always fighting each other on track because we’re driving the same car and we’re equally on pace and we’ve gone through this so often that we know how to talk and then move on from it.”
“There won’t be any problems” between Ferrari drivers in Qatar
While speaking with the media during Thursday’s FIA press conference ahead of the Qatar GP, Sainz’s teammate, Charles Leclerc, also confirmed that any issues between himself and his teammate had been resolved. He claimed this was not unexpected as he and Sainz shared a “really good relationship.” He added that both he and Sainz had also agreed to prioritise Ferrari’s fight for the World Constructor’s Championship.
“I don’t want to go back to what happened in Vegas. Yeah, I mean, last two races of the season and we need to do absolutely everything in order to get that Constructors’ Championship. That’s all that matters.
“And whatever happened in Vegas, we discussed about it and we are all good, which is the most important thing.
“I had no doubts about that because we’ve always had a really good relationship with Carlos and we’ve had races where sometimes things don’t go exactly the way we want, but the most important thing is that we discuss about it and we go forward.
“It’s very clear for both of us that we just want to win the Constructors’ and it’s by working as a team that we’ll achieve that. And I’m sure that there won’t be any problems with it.”
Leclerc has “no doubts” about Sainz
When asked if anything had been said to encourage him to maintain his trust in his teammate, Leclerc replied, “Nothing special, but at the end, I don’t even need that.”
He explained that disagreements between himself and Sainz were typically resolved with a discussion between them. This, he credited to the good relationship between them.
“As I said, we have a really good relationship with Carlos.
“And sometimes I have overstepped the lines, and sometimes he did, and then it only requires a discussion between us two.
“And we look ourselves in the eye, and we know each other since a very long time now. We understand each other very, very quickly. So I have no doubts.”
The Monégasque claimed that the incident had acted as a “reset”. He reiterated that he expected no problems between himself and Sainz, due to their shared goal of winning the WCC.
“Sometimes we need these kinds of things to reset a little bit and I have no doubts that going into the last race of the season there won’t be any problems or whatsoever because at the end it’s in the benefit for both of us to try and win that constructors we know that an opportunity like that doesn’t happen very often and we’ve got to do absolutely everything on both of our side in order to try and win that.”
Leclerc highlighted the importance of maintaining a strong relationship in their fight for the WCC. He claimed that Ferrari would not be able to win the title without teamwork between himself and Sainz.
“And we need each other in order to win that because it’s not going to be easy. This weekend is not going to be easy. And by working as a team, we can maybe achieve that.”
“Really good” relationship between Ferrari drivers
Sainz denied that his relationship with Leclerc was manufactured, indicating that he and Leclerc enjoyed strong personal and professional relationships.
He added that experiencing “ups and downs” in their professional relationship was normal due to their competitiveness.
The Spaniard hypothesised that there would be fewer incidents between himself and Leclerc if they were not matched in performance.
However, he indicated that this scenario would be less preferable for Ferrari.
“Yeah, and I honestly keep seeing sometimes in social media that people believe it’s not true and it’s all PR.
“And honestly it disappoints me because people cannot sometimes understand that we have a professional relationship, and in that professional relationship we go through ups and downs.
“And as competitive as we are we’re always going to have some issues on track because, again, if he would be P1 and I would be P8 or vice versa we would never have issues.
“But unfortunately, or let’s say fortunately for the team, we’re always in the same point on the track and we’re having our little issues here and there.“
Sainz had “enjoyed every single moment” with Leclerc at Ferrari
Despite acknowledging difficult moments in their professional relationship, Sainz claimed that his personal relationship with Leclerc had never been affected. He promised to remember Leclerc fondly and added that he had enjoyed racing with him at Ferrari.
“But then we also have a personal relationship. And as much as the professional one goes through ups and downs, the personal one, I can tell you, it’s always been really, really good.
“He’s one of those guys that I know in the future when I’m not in Formula One I’ll look back and say I’m glad I met him and I’m glad I raced with him and I’m glad I can have a lot of good memories with him.
“And in these four years in Ferrari I’ve enjoyed every single moment with him, even the tough ones. As much as they’ve been tough, I’m pretty sure in 20-30 years I’ll laugh about them and look back with being proud of what we’ve achieved together.”
“Very natural” to have “ups and downs” between teammates
The Spaniard further addressed his professional relationship with his teammate.
He claimed that his professional relationship with Leclerc had been the “toughest” as they had been “fighting for wins.”
He added that Ferrari’s high-pressure environment had further added to the competition between himself and Leclerc.
This pressure and competitiveness had created an environment that was unlike that at his previous teams.
“I think with Charles we’ve had it the toughest, because we’ve been put together in Ferrari at a time where Ferrari has also been relatively competitive.
“We’ve been fighting for wins, we’ve been fighting for podiums. And we’ve found each other both at a very high level of driving and both at a very high level, but also under very high pressure because it’s Ferrari and we both want to win.
“I think it’s never been as tough because when I was in McLaren or when I was in Toro Rosso, when I was in Renault, I wasn’t fighting for wins. And I wasn’t driving for Ferrari.
“And all these things combined obviously they add to having maybe a little bit more ice on you.
“You have also a bit more pressure and you’re obviously going to have to go through those tough moments.
“And in front of all that, as I said before, you have to co-exist for four years at the same time that you’re P4 and P5, P2 and P3, P1 and P2, and having to do every start, every safety car restart, every qualifying, every swap, every pit stop next to each other and having to race each other at the same time as your teammates, then for sure there’s going to be ups and downs and I find it very natural in a way.”
Relationship between Leclerc and Sainz “will stay”
Leclerc also confirmed that he intended to maintain his relationship with Sainz even after the latter departed from Ferrari. He added that while he would miss working with Sainz, he would not overly miss him as Sainz would still be present in the paddock.
“I’ve said it many times. On one hand, it’s not like I’m going to miss him like crazy because he will still be in the paddock, maybe 20 metres away. So as I’ve said it for Fred, Carlos isn’t my girlfriend either.”
“And so I really like Carlos, but I’m sure we’ll spend still a lot of time together. And as I was saying earlier, we have a really good relationship that will stay there even after our relationship within Ferrari.
”Yeah, we won’t be working any more together, but we’ll still spend time together. But he is a good person and we get along very, very well. And yeah, that, as I said earlier, helps us to work together very well.”
