Ferrari will field one of its youngest and least experienced driver line-ups in a while next year, when Carlos Sainz joins Charles Leclerc at the Scuderia.
Leclerc has already established himself as one of the most exciting young talents in Formula One, and he’s likely to start the 2021 season as Ferrari’s number one driver.
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And, ex-F1 driver David Coulthard has warned that Sainz could quickly be shown the door at Ferrari unless he is able to match Leclerc.
“The reality is they are both fairly mild-mannered and very polite young men, so I think they will understand their roles within the team which is to develop the car the best they can,” Coulthard told Channel 4.
“The real battle and competition between them is the stopwatch and it’s there that they will show who the team leader is.
“I’ve got to say Charles will have the upper hand initially because he understands the makings of the team and how it all works.
“Let’s say we give Carlos half a season, but if he’s not able to then start matching Charles or outperforming him it could be a short time for him at Ferrari,” he added.
With the technical regulations remaining fairly stable into 2021, Ferrari aren’t expecting to be in a position to challenge Mercedes and Red Bull for the Championship.
However, they will have a new power unit and are making encouraging progress on their SF1000, so it’s reasonable to think they will be in a position to at least fight for podiums in some races, though this is dependent on how their rivals develop their respective packages.
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