Ferrari insists: Leclerc and Sainz allowed to battle it out in Austria

Ferrari insists it does not want to give preferential treatment to any of its drivers and has no intention of doing so at the Austrian Grand Prix. Mattia Binotto stated this during the press conference after the sprint race.

With Carlos Sainz now just twelve points ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc, Binotto feels that Ferrari cannot take sides at the moment. He maintains his position from the start of the season: Ferrari will support the driver who is fastest on track at the moment and will choose to collect as many points as possible in the Constructors' Championship.

"By maximising the points for the team, we are also doing the same for the drivers' chances by taking points away from their opponents," Binotto explained. He stresses that Leclerc and Sainz are not meant to be each other's opponents in this scenario. "The fastest car on the track is the one that gets priority," he adds.

According to Binotto, that is the best thing Ferrari can do for its drivers at this stage of the championship. "If one of the drivers has better chances later in the championship, then we will certainly try to give him full priority, but at the moment that is not the situation," the Italian continued.

Ferrari will therefore let its drivers battle it out in Austria, just as they did at Silverstone. "When there are team orders everyone blames us that there should be a free fight and when you have a free fight there should be team orders. So whatever you do is always wrong," Binotto said.