Formula 1: The Ferrari ‘joke’ that flew under the radar

Charles Leclerc lobbied Ferrari to allow him to pass Carlos Sainz Jr. amid his battle for second place in the Formula 1 standings, but it went largely unnoticed afterward.

While much of the focus was on Red Bull’s Max Verstappen not allowing teammate Sergio Perez to pass him for sixth place at the end of Sunday’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos Circuit after being instructed by the team to do so, another interesting situation unfolded at Ferrari. There was no team order, but the big idea was the same: second place in the Formula 1 driver standings.

Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc are tied for second place in the standings after 21 of 22 races, with the latter holding the tiebreaker as a result having one additional victory. Had Perez been allowed to take sixth from Verstappen, he would be ahead by two.

But Leclerc being held in fourth place could be even more detrimental for Ferrari, and Leclerc even called it a “joke”.

Teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. finished the race in third place. Had Leclerc finished there, he would have scored three additional points, putting him three points ahead of Perez — or one had Perez also finished in sixth. Either way, Leclerc would be ahead, and not on a tiebreaker.

As mentioned, this flew largely under the radar on Sunday, as Twitter and mainstream media talking heads predictably piled on Verstappen for not allowing Perez by.

To be fair, there was no order at Ferrari, while there was at Red Bull, and you never want to take away a podium from one of your drivers. Sainz is in his own battle for fifth place in the standings with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen, on the other hand, already clinched his second consecutive world championship more than a month ago.

But if the issue is truly the fact that runner-up in the standings is at stake, why is this “joke” not being discussed more?

Ferrari were likely thinking about the fact that there was not a huge buffer between fourth and fifth place (Alpine’s Fernando Alonso) behind Leclerc, and they can’t afford to lose points to Mercedes in their battle for second in the constructor standings.

Mercedes secured their first win of 2022 — and their first 1-2 finish in more than two years — in Sunday’s race, with George Russell standing atop the podium for the first time in his career.

Behind Perez, there was a bigger gap to eighth place (Alpine’s Esteban Ocon), which would have made it easier for Verstappen to relinquish sixth than it would have been for Sainz to relinquish third.

The 2022 season is scheduled to conclude on Sunday, November 20 with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which is set to be broadcast live on ESPN from Yas Marina Circuit beginning at 8:00 a.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and be sure not to miss any of the action!