Rene Arnoux shares his thoughts on Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz amid 2023 title duel

Former Scuderia Ferrari driver René Arnoux certainly did not avoid some harsh comments in a long interview reported by ‘Autosprint’ and after having heavily criticized the management led by ex-team boss Mattia Binotto in recent years within Ferrari, he also expressed his own opinion on the two main drivers of the Prancing Horse, the duo made up of Charles and Carlos.

The opinion on the drivers:
When asked about Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, René Arnoux replied: “I like them both. I respect them a lot. If I could turn dreams into reality, as a convinced Ferrari fan that I am, I would like to see them always finish in first and second place without preference as to which of the two gets the win. It doesn’t matter. As far as their management is concerned, it is always the contract that speaks for itself. You always have to see what is written on it. These are things that we cannot know, we can only rely on the feelings and opinions gathered at the end of each session. Formula 1 drivers must abide by the contract, period. If above it it says that you are the first driver then you have to win at any cost, fine. If it says otherwise then you have to lend a hand if necessary and without complaining about it” – said French former racing driver who competed in 12 Formula One seasons.

“Obviously you have to take into account the psychology and career of the boys,” continued the Frenchman. “Forcing a young driver to be the second driver after arriving in Formula 1 by winning everything in the preparatory categories is not easy at all. To date, we realize that between the two, one certainly has more chances of winning the title than the other and therefore it’s right to apply common sense and think as a team. So at that point, as second driver, if you can lend a hand, you give it your best and you don’t have to back down, also because you’re racing for a great manufacturer. The situation now is very different from the Schumacher era when it was Irvine and Barrichello who had to sacrifice themselves. So let’s hope that, beyond contracts and services, both guys behind the wheel have the sensitivity and intelligence to understand how to behave in the interests of Ferrari” – he added.

After all this preamble, in which Rene Arnoux was careful not to name names, the former Maranello man finally decided to go overboard and admitted: “Personally I would bet more on Charles Leclerc, especially within an important process of reconstruction of his self-esteem. The truth is that Charles needs to get back to having self-confidence, after the many disappointing moments suffered in the recent past. As for Carlos Sainz, he seems to me very solid and increasingly able to express himself at his best when the car is set up well for what are its characteristics”.

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According to Rene Arnoux, however, the drivers have very little to do with the Prancing Horse’s real chances of victory and pointed out that “the question to ask goes completely beyond that of the drivers. Formula One is a complex system and Ferrari is a very difficult environment. If one thing starts to go wrong, then others will follow immediately. If one fails, many more will go wrong. That’s the point. Here you have to reverse the trend and make them all go well, one after the other. When generally things go well, then everything goes well. Ferrari is not simply a top team. In some ways it is THE top team, it represents the center of gravity of Formula One and a team like this cannot fight in the lower positions or struggle with problems more common for midfield teams” – Rene Arnoux concluded.