F1 | Has Ferrari already botched its title chances?
The HinduIn the sporting world, some teams have an outsized influence on the disciplines they compete in — the sport’s fortunes are intrinsically linked to the team’s. Even Sainz’s victory, while a welcome return to the top step for Ferrari, was not the ideal result in the pursuit of the drivers’ championship — the team’s primary title challenger Leclerc suffered a huge blow. After the first stops, the same situation prevailed until Sainz failed to meet the target lap time set by the team and let Leclerc take the lead. Had Ferrari asked Sainz to give way before the first round of stops, Leclerc could have been further up the road during the safety car period which would have allowed him to stop for new tyres without worrying about losing track position to Hamilton. Not only has Ferrari cost Leclerc points, forcing him to potentially take more risks to make up the deficit, but it’s also likely to have diminished his confidence in his team.