Was Sainz wrong to ignore Ferrari’s orders in Las Vegas GP? Our writers have their say

Charles Leclerc was furious at the end of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, making his feelings clear over the radio to engineer Bryan Bozzi after Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz ignored orders not to attack him.

Having looked on course to overcut Sainz during the final round of stops, Leclerc was passed by the Spaniard who duly secured another podium before he leaves the Italian squad at the end of 2024.

But was Sainz right to ignore the team, or will he regret the decision? Our writers have their say.

Sainz is within his rights to show Ferrari what it’ll be missing – Alex Kalinauckas

Remember just how savagely Sainz fought Leclerc back in the China sprint race? Or the elongated similar battle in the same setting at Austin? Well, his ruthlessness against his team-mate burst onto the GP stage in Vegas and, given it meant Leclerc got trapped for too long behind Max Verstappen, won him a 26th F1 career podium.

In heading to Williams next year, Sainz has chosen the better short-term option in competitiveness terms over Sauber/Audi. But a Williams driver has not stood on an F1 podium since Belgium 2021 (although, in reality, Baku 2017).

He just can’t know when he’ll reach the rostrum in F1 again given his upcoming step down the grid, even if he and new team-mate Alex Albon hope Williams can continue on its upward trajectory under team boss James Vowles.

That alone justifies his decision to ignore Ferrari’s instructions not to attack Leclerc as the other SF-24 emerged from its second stop in the Vegas night. That enraged Leclerc, around some excellent “Maybe try in Spanish” sarcasm. Although only the order for Sainz to swap positions – which he delayed doing – ahead of their first services was played out on the world feed.

It’s not hard to read a certain amount of frustration in Sainz’s driving against Leclerc at times this year.

Ferrari picked the Monegasque as its long-term star even before signing Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes when Sainz had shown so well against such a fast and highly-rated driver. He is usually the better of the pair when understeer comes into play – such as it did in Mexico and in a different way with the cool surface temperatures in Vegas.

And until Leclerc got his act together on the hards in the Vegas race, Sainz had led the way for Ferrari – bar his slight over-doing it at the first corner and sliding deep, opening the door…