"It’s too early to decide on roles"- Ferrari's priorty should be 'reliability' instead of picking its 'lead driver' between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, feels former F1 driver

Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa feels that Ferrari's biggest focus needs to be on reliability rather than deciding who will be the lead driver. The F1 Austrian GP featured Charles Leclerc scoring his first win since the Australian GP, while Carlos Sainz was left disappointed with a DNF. Sainz's DNF meant that Leclerc now holds a 37-point advantage over the Spaniard in the championship.

This assertion has left pundits believing the Scuderia should pull the trigger and anoint Leclerc as the team's challenger for the title. Especially so because, at Red Bull, Max Verstappen is enjoying that status and the team consequently maximizes his results every weekend.

Felipe Massa, the 2008 F1 Championship runner-up, feels that Ferrari have a bigger ax to grind concerning the reliability of their machinery. The Scuderia have suffered from far too many DNFs and as a result, the team isn't currently in the best shape in the championship. Speaking to the media, Massa said:

“It is possible that Leclerc will be out of the race in the next race and Sainz will win. It’s too early to decide on roles because even they themselves don’t know which drivers will finish the next race.”

We don't know the dynamics at Ferrari right now, says Felipe Massa

The Brazilian driver tried to compare the situation he was in at the Italian squad to what it currently is. Massa was the No. 2 driver when Michael Schumacher was part of the team in 2006, but the situation changed when Kimi Raikkonen arrived in 2007.

Both drivers were on level footing until the Belgian GP and only after that did the second driver in the championship help the first.

“When I came to the team in 2006, it was very clear who was first and who was second. Then Kimi Raikkonen came to us. We agreed with each other that we would fight each other until the race in Spa and after that, whoever was behind in the championship would help his teammate."

“I don’t know how the situation is at Ferrari at the moment in terms of distribution of roles, but I think their main priority should be reliability. They have to solve these problems first and only then decide which of the drivers will be the first driver.”