I’m sure this will make some people mad... 😅 The “Charles only” fans need to do the same thing that the “Lewis only” fans needed to do: Drink a bit of objectivity juice, and call things as they are, not just from the perspective of your fandom. I often get lambasted here by driver fandoms, because people do not like reading the truth. I don’t care to placate anyone. 🤷🏻‍♂️ That was a masterclass from Lewis, and was why he was signed. He has full control of the team now. It was a fourth failed weekend in a row from Charles. The updated car is a huge positive for the team, and Lewis is playing the politics game masterfully to poise himself as the source of all positivity. Of course, we know the drivers don’t design cars, and the engineers deserve all the credit there. But he is rewarding their full commitment to prioritizing him with all development and internal favor after his mega-signing. That’s one thing Lewis does very well, and it may be his biggest asset. He knows that being in the best car at the right time is the path to success, and that diminishing your teammate’s standing then makes the pathway clear for you, making it less of a direct battle. He is being a masterful politician to secure team backing vs his teammates even before the results come, which in turn helps him achieve the results while diminishing the fight from his teammates. He’s always been very savvy at doing that, and when your team delivers a title challenging car that guarantees one of the drivers in that car the championship, you are well off because your teammate is already largely neutralized internally via politicking. Tip the cap to him for taking advantage of the Ferrari contract situation and Elkann’s eagerness to recreate this environment from Mercedes for him, and ultimately shifting the team away from Charles before the results ever came, specifically so he could deliver them. It’s ok to acknowledge that Lewis is carrying the team at the moment, just like Charles carried the team last year. It will probably shift around more throughout the year, but Charles simply doesn’t fit this regulatory cycle any more than Lewis fit GE. The non-racing components of this regulation cycle, where the aim is to not push and drive within the limits for energy maximization, is foreign to Charles. He may simply not be able to adapt to them in order to deliver clean execution. Lewis clearly has. It’s also perfectly reasonable to accept reality, and acknowledge that the team should strongly consider sacrificing Charles this season and throw all efforts towards Lewis for the remainder of the year in strategy priority, to fight for this WDC. It was Charles’ dream to return the title to Ferrari first, but his performances haven’t lived up to that when the opportunity has now arisen. Lewis is the one in form and the only one in a position to compete for the championship, if Merc have reliability woes. The gap is too large for Leclerc to do so, or to finish ahead of his teammate. You simply can’t recover from 2 DNFs, it is what it is. Charles is at a career crossroads here, which is very correct to state. He is a great talent, who like Lewis in GE, will be eager for these cars to be gone. But has a small chance to fight back and course correct now, but the environmental change within Ferrari will limit his effectiveness in that. He needs to sharpen his execution, yes, but also his political prowess. Economically, once Lewis was paid on such a large deal the future was set in stone for Leclerc as second priority in Maranello in 2024, and his only option is to beat Lewis in a realm shifted to be suited to him. That will be the hardest task he has faced. The unknown is which of them if fully prioritized, would actually have the higher ceiling? Unfortunately for Charles he has never been able to secure that level of support within Ferrari and has always had to battle without the full backing. As I said at signing in 2024, that will continue with Lewis here now.

Another bit of information by the lovely gentlemen at @Auto_Racer_it The issue with Charles in Monaco has been identified. They don't expect the issue to be made public. Starting from Barcelona, Leclerc will go to Carbon Industries brake discs. Adaptation is required, and satisfaction is not guaranteed. No updates were made to the brakes in Canada. Nothing has changed on that part of the SF-26.