The intra-team battle within all 10 Formula 1 teams is absolutely fascinating right now, especially with so many drivers out of contract at the end of the season.
For some teams – like Aston Martin – the gap between their two racers has reached a point where there’s a clear number one and number two driver.
Speaking on the On Track GP Podcast, racing driver and pundit Richard Bradley was talking about a much closer pairing.
The Chinese Grand Prix saw some brilliant battles in both the Sprint Race and Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Despite the fact they were well outside of the points, Lance Stroll and Kevin Magnussen’s wheel-to-wheel action was fantastic.
In Saturday’s race, Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz came very close to contact as they battled to score as many points as possible.
Bradley has now suggested that Leclerc is playing political mind games with his teammate.
He won’t be able to do that next year when Sainz is replaced by seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
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Charles Leclerc accused of playing ‘political mind games’ with Carlos Sainz
Before the season even started Charles Leclerc had already got one over his current teammate.
Both drivers were out of contract at the end of 2024, but Frederic Vasseur decided to extend the 26-year-old’s deal.
That meant that when Lewis Hamilton became available, it was Sainz who was told he needed to find a new seat for 2025.
That’s spurred the Spaniard on and he’s been brilliant this season, winning the Australian Grand Prix and finishing ahead of Leclerc in Bahrain and Japan.
Leclerc got the better of Sainz in the Sprint Race but put one move on the 29-year-old that he wasn’t particularly happy with.
He was forced very wide coming out of the final hairpin and managed to finish a couple of seconds ahead of his teammate.
Leclerc then had a brilliant race on Sunday and nearly got the better of Sergio Perez to secure his third podium of the season.
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Asked if Charles Leclerc’s statement that Carlos Sainz is fighting him more than anyone else on the track is fair, Richard Bradley said: “I don’t think that’s a fair assessment.
“I think that he’s just fighting everybody as hard as he wants and you always feel more aggrieved when you’re actually in the incident than when you’re the car who’s not in the incident because it directly affects you.
“Whereas normally you’re going to benefit from it, right? And I think that’s a little bit of political mind games from Charles [Leclerc] there.”
Leclerc might be playing mind games to get the better of Sainz right now, but the three incidents in China where they both nearly ended up off the track suggest he’s also aware he needs to get his elbows out when necessary.
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Ferrari are having a very strong season and the last thing team principal Frederic Vasseur will want is for their antics to scupper their chances of scoring points.
It would be a huge surprise if they managed to close the gap to Red Bull this season.
However, Lando Norris showed in Shanghai that they need to keep a close eye on McLaren who are going from strength to strength.
The post ‘More aggrieved’: 26-year-old F1 driver told he’s playing ‘political mind games’ with his teammate – pundit appeared first on F1 Oversteer.