There is quite some irony in Ferrari’s operations. Charles Leclerc, whom Frederic Vasseur decided to retain over Carlos Sainz, has consistently outperformed. At the Australian GP, the Monegasque was asked not to fight his teammate for the win, which he complied with
Today, in Japan, Leclerc has once again received team orders that will not help his case.
In Australia, however, the fight between the Ferraris was for the win. But in Japan, the fight was for the podium place behind the Red Bulls.
But here, McLaren is the surprise package that is en route to Block P3. Lando Norris, who out-qualified his buddy Carlos Sainz for P3, is still in the fight to retain that position.
In Lap 36 of the race, both Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris went into the pits for a tire change. Leclerc, who was in P4, came out in the same position, behind his teammate Sainz. But the team orders strictly prohibited him from battling Sainz. “Our fight is with Russell and Norris behind,” his race engineer, Xavier Marcos Padros, said on the team radio.
On the contrary, nearing the end of the race, Carlos Sainz was celebrated by his race engineer, “One more to the podium,” while teammate Charles Leclerc was indirectly asked not to waste time for P3, considering his fight with Lando Norris behind, gunning for P4.
This marks the second instance of similar team orders for Leclerc, including the one in Melbourne. Surprisingly, this wasn’t the first instance of team orders at Suzuka that he had to settle to agree with.
