It was a bittersweet race for Ferrari, who believed they could easily fight for victory and secure a one-two on the streets of Las Vegas. Those plans were derailed by an overperforming Mercedes W15 in the cold Nevada conditions. The weekend was further complicated by tension between the two Ferrari drivers following Leclerc’s second pit stop. Charles Leclerc voiced his frustration in a heated team radio message, but team principal Frédéric Vasseur seemed unconcerned by the situation after the race.
The relationship between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz appears increasingly strained, with one driver making comments to criticize while the other defends. This behavior might help their individual cases but doesn’t benefit the team, which could have secured even more points. Nonetheless, Frédéric Vasseur seemed satisfied with the points haul, noting that Ferrari had further closed the gap to McLaren. However, the French manager now faces the task of calming tensions within the team ahead of the season’s final two races.
The controversy erupted on lap 31, when Leclerc pitted for his second stop, three laps after Carlos Sainz. Charles Leclerc, on his second stint with hard tires, rejoined just ahead of his teammate and was informed not to attack and to hold positions. However, this instruction wasn’t followed, and the Monegasque driver vented his frustration after the race in his team radio.
“I’m not worried at all,” Fred Vasseur said during the post-race debrief in Las Vegas. “I think, once again, it’s always the same story: either they have to make comments, or they shouldn’t. They’re commenting on the in-lap and don’t always have the full picture. We’ll discuss it, and it won’t be an issue. We need to avoid fighting, but at this stage, I think that when opening the stint, you need to focus on management. Carlos was already on his third or fourth lap of the stint. I think the situation was very difficult for everyone, but we’ll discuss it tonight. It won’t be a problem.”
“When we discussed the pit stop with Carlos, I explained that he was in the shadow of Liam Lawson, perhaps Yuki Tsunoda, and wanted to pit, but we wanted to keep him on track. We were discussing it in that way, and on top of that, we had to change plans, which caused a bit of chaos. But when they’re in the car, they have their own perspective on the race,” Frédéric Vasseur added at the end of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
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