Eddie Irvine tells Ferrari to consider team orders to preserve Charles Leclerc's championship lead

Eddie Irvine has urged Ferrari to consider using team orders already at this stage of the season with Charles Leclerc opening up a big gap at the top of the Drivers’ standings.

The Scuderia have been the team to beat this year, with them combining good levels of performance with reliability and Leclerc, in particular, has benefitted with him 34 points clear at the top of the championship.

Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, has two podiums to his name and a retirement, with him admitting he’s not quite got to grips as much as he would have liked with the new Prancing Horse.

And, with Red Bull – when they don’t have reliability woes – showing that they can compete with Ferrari, Irvine has told his former team to consider using team orders to stop Sainz from taking points away from Leclerc in order to stop Max Verstappen and his team from taking the championship.

“This is a problem for Charles because Sainz, who is number two, can occasionally find himself in front of him,” Irvine told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“If I were Mattia [Binotto] I would give precise orders, as in my day, because beating Verstappen is already tough before you then have also a team-mate who can snatch points away from you.

“As for Perez, in normal conditions he can’t beat Max.”

The Leclerc/Sainz dynamic that Ferrari have is going to be a fascinating one.

They clearly get on but they have not been in this position together, where they are fighting for a championship and clearly have the chance to win it.

Sainz will still think he can take the title and won’t want to fall in line just yet, and in fairness Mattia Binotto has said it’s too early to make that call.

Leclerc’s form has been irresistible, though, and if he keeps it up there will come a time where