Red Bull Racing star Max Verstappen has shared a sharp perspective on the internal dynamics at Scuderia Ferrari following the high-profile clash between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. The four-time world champion believes that friction between two top-tier drivers within the same team is an inevitable consequence of having dual team leaders.
The controversy ignited following intense wheel-to-wheel battles at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez during the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend. Although Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur held discussions with both drivers in Sao Paulo to clear the air, Verstappen pointed out that the root cause stems directly from the Maranello squad's driver pairing philosophy.
"If you simply had one clear number one and one clear number two, they would have through that corner in first and second, and they would have finished first and second as well. Or maybe first and third, but that is fine too. As a team, you are still scoring good points," Verstappen told Viaplay.
The Dutch driver emphasized that if he were ever in the position of a team principal, he would never opt to sign two lead drivers simultaneously. He firmly believes that having two captains on one ship naturally leads to competitive tension and on-track collisions as neither driver is willing to yield.
"I've said it before, people very often disagree with me, but if I were a team principal, if I had my own team, I would never sign two number-one drivers, because then you get this. Then this is normal. One isn't going to give way to the other, because of course they both think they can win, and that's how I am too," he explained.
Verstappen further argued that possessing a competitive car is all a team truly needs to achieve dominance, pointing to his own historic 2023 campaign where his individual points tally alone would have secured the constructors' championship.
"If you have a good car, then you don't necessarily need that either, two number-one drivers. Just a decent number two," Verstappen added, drawing parallels to historical success stories such as Lewis Hamilton paired with Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes, and Michael Schumacher alongside Rubens Barrichello at Ferrari. Read our in-depth analysis on F1 team dynamics and paddock strategies.
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