F1 | Ferrari is betting on the second driver, putting its true phenomenon in difficulty

We return once again, after a crazy race to talk about a strategic choice by Ferrari, which after Monte Carlo he put Charles Leclerc in clear difficulty, his most crystalline talent, to favor the one who on paper is the second driver, Carlos Sainz. The Monegasque was in first position in the final part of the race ahead of his teammate and Lewis Hamilton. All on hard tyres, Leclerc was near the pit lane once the Safety Car came out, precisely to give the wall the opportunity to decide whether or not to enter and fit the soft tyres. No communication about it, and so Leclerc continued, but then Sainz was called back to the pits, as were Hamilton, Perez and practically everyone else.

All or almost all with new softs behind Leclerc with used hards, therefore completely at the mercy of his opponents. The last ten laps for the man who should be Ferrari's first driver were a nightmare: first passed by Sainz, with a hard and decisive move, the Monegasque defended himself in an incredible way against Hamilton and Perez, with overtaking and counter-overtaking breathtaking, one above all in Copse, when he passed to the outside of the English champion. In the end, however, Leclerc had to give in, finishing in fourth place but demonstrating once and for all what an absolute phenomenon he is.

Ferrari, for its part, has made yet another strategic blunder: the wrong call in Monte Carlo, when it relegated Leclerc from first to fourth, was evidently not enough for the red wall, and in fact the same thing also happened at Silverstone. In Maranello the hierarchies regarding first and second drivers are not yet well established, despite the ranking, but also the talent, say something else. Yes, because today Leclerc did something magical, and deserved the victory, but not only that, because it would have been vital to close the gap with Verstappen, seventh today and in clear difficulty with his Red Bull.

There aren't too many words to define the work on the Ferrari wall, once again not up to the standard of its top driver, the one really in the running to win the world championship, and let's face it, incomparable to Sainz. The Spanish driver, very strong, doesn't hold it against us, but it is Leclerc who has all it takes to fight for something big, as was also seen today when Carlos lost first position in the very first laps due to a mistake by Maggotts and Becketts . Charles did a stratospheric job today in moments of great tension and pressure, and honestly it deserves a lot more than a group of very good strategists doing damage, not just lately, but for a few years now.

Why not stop Leclerc together with Sainz? To avoid double pit stops? At that point, if you really had to sacrifice someone, that someone had to be the Spanish driver, but evidently, we repeat it for the last time, the concept of first and second driver in Ferrari does not exist, and this is a big problem in the management of races for a team with such a competitive car at its disposal, see also the lack of ok to the exchange of positions between the two when Hamilton was recovering lap after lap.

The Maranello team does not learn from its mistakes: but can you imagine a Red Bull sacrificing Verstappen in the fight to let Perez win? Ditto if we look at Mercedes with Hamilton and Bottas in past years or at Ferrari itself with Schumacher and Barrichello. This is what actually happened today at Silverstone. Well, with this summary we can also close this analysis, which is very tough, but which in fact tells what happened in the British Grand Prix.