Emerson Fittipaldi offers thoughts on Ferrari driver pecking order debate

Former Formula 1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi has told Vegas Insider that he does not think Ferrari are going to prioritise one driver over the other just yet.

The Scuderia have had a superb start to the campaign this year and currently lead the way in the Constructors’ standings with their car proving both the quickest and the most reliable up to this point.

It is Charles Leclerc who has made the most of that, too, with him currently leading the Drivers’ standings by 34 points, which is some going at this stage of the campaign.

Indeed, his team-mate Carlos Sainz has admitted he has found it a little more difficult so far this season to get to grips with the car, whilst a retirement in Australia last time out hardly helped his cause.

And, as is the case in F1, when one driver opens up a gap to their team-mate, speculation starts swirling over a team prioritising them over the other.

That is happening surrounding Ferrari at the moment, too, but Fittipaldi believes that such thoughts won’t have entered the minds of those calling the shots within the team just yet:

“I don’t think Ferrari will choose who is number 1.

“I think Ferrari, automatically, who’ll be leading the championship, the next three-four Grands Prix, will have more support from the team.

“But so far, there is no number 1, number 2 driver right now. My opinion, looking from the outside, they have the same equipment, the same effort.

“This will be decided later in the season, not yet.

“But both can win the World Championship. It could be a great challenge between [Charles] Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. It can happen, through the rest of the Championship.”

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