Charles Leclerc to be clear #1 driver at Ferrari under Frederic Vasseur: Reports

With the speculations of Frédéric Vasseur replacing Mattia Binotto at Ferrari, it has been reported by Gazzetta that Charles Leclerc will be treated as the first driver under his command.

Reports have flooded in (from formu1a.uno) that Binotto has already sent in his resignation to the team and that the search for a new team principal has begun. However, it is yet to be officially confirmed.

Charles Leclerc has been a part of Ferrari since 2019 and has shown excellent growth with the team. Despite his performance, he has not been given the status of the number one driver of the team.

But Carlos Sainz isn't treated any differently, the team has refused to prioritize any of the drivers, and both of them have equal status because of their consistent performances.

It wouldn't be wrong to say that Leclerc was somewhat better than Sainz in the 2022 season (also considering the DNFs he had). The Monegasque was considered to be fighting for the championship after a perfect start to the season.

Although several mistakes from the team took his hopes away, he was still performing a little better than his teammate and ended the season in second place behind Champion Max Verstappen.

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Charles Leclerc could be Vasseur's potential choice

Since Frédéric Vasseur is speculated to be a potential replacement for Mattia Binotto, Charles Leclerc might receive preferential treatment.

Vasseur also believes that teams should build around one driver, as he claimed a year ago:

“For the last 25 years all good projects have been built around a reference driver. Ferrari with [Michael] Schumacher, Renault with [Fernando] Alonso, Red Bull with [Sebastian] Vettel, Mercedes with [Lewis] Hamilton.”

However, it's expected that Carlos Sainz will not be treated much differently even if Leclerc gets in the front-seat, so to speak.

Sainz finished in fifth place at the end of the 2022 season and was instrumental in putting Ferrari back on the map.

Vasseur is also expected to help with strategic decisions since that's where Ferrari looked vulnerable this season. Mattia Binotto was blamed for the mistakes, which started with speculations of him being demoted in the first place. No official statements have come in from the team.