Fred Vasseur reacts to feisty Carlos Sainz display as Charles Leclerc dynamic changes

Racing wheel-to-wheel, and possibly a little too close for Ferrari’s liking, Ralf Schumacher thinks one “can tell” the chemistry between the Ferrari teammates has changed.

This will be Carlos Sainz’s final season with Ferrari, after the driver was notified in January that Lewis Hamilton would replace him the following season.

Carlos Sainz twice overtook Charles Leclerc in Bahrain

That announcement came a week after Ferrari confirmed Leclerc would be staying on having re-signed for “beyond” 2024.

It’s left the Ferrari team-mates in an intriguing situation as while Leclerc needs to prove Ferrari made the right call, for Sainz every grand prix is an audition.

And he nailed the Bahrain one, twice overtaking Leclerc on the track to join the Red Bull drivers on the podium.

Wheel-to-wheel on lap 11, the Spaniard bullied his way through into fourth, before again passing his team-mate on lap 17 after finding himself behind after a pit stop.

“It never felt close inside the car,” Sainz insisted. “Whenever I do an overtake on my team-mate I will always try and leave as much margin as possible.

“I try and do it whenever I feel like I´m fully under control and I´m not putting any car at risk.”

Schumacher, though, says it feels to him like something has changed between the team-mates.

“You can tell that the two of them are no longer so familiar with each other,” the German told Sky Deutschland.

“It was the first race, perhaps the team should have told Charles at that moment that he was having problems anyway with the tyres and should let his team-mate through.

“Today Carlos Sainz was faster, but I think Charles’ car wasn’t quite okay.”