Ferrari: No team orders – drivers 'free to fight'

Ferrari says its too early in the season to resort to team orders despite Charles Leclerc's comfortable lead in the Drivers' championship over teammate Carlos Sainz.

The Ferrari/Leclerc combo has emerged as the class of the field, winning two of the first three races of the season.

While the title battle is in its early days, Ferrari and Leclerc are already seen as the prime contenders in their respective championships.

But Scuderia boss Mattia Binotto see no reason for Ferrari to intervene and protect the Monegasque's position at the head of the field.

"It's only three races which have been done now," said Binotto. "There are still 20 races left, hopefully 19 or 20. So the championship is still very long.

"Our drivers are free to fight, and I am really looking forward and enjoying that they are battling for a good place, and first place, if possible."

Although Ferrari has benefitted from the misfortune that has struck Red Bull and Max Verstappen in Bahrain and in Melbourne, there is no denying the strength of the Italian outfit's F1-75 package which so far has performed well on a diverse set of tracks and conditions.

"It is a very strong car for sure," said Leclerc. "I think until now it's fitting my driving well. I understood the car very early in the season and I think that is helping me for now.

"This has been a good surprise. But yeah, we need to keep pushing obviously. For now, it's going extremely well."

• Sainz: Ferrari needed regulations reset to become 'stronger and better'

Ferrari heads to its home race at Imola with limited updates in its bag for its F1-75, as Binotto believes the event's Sprint race format is not conducive to adding major new parts.

"I think it will be a difficult weekend in respect of bringing updates and trying to evaluate them in the Friday practice, because you need obviously to focus yourself on the quali of the afternoon," said the Ferrari boss.

"If we will look at ourselves, there will not be much in Imola because again, we believe it will not be the right place.

"But we will try to mitigate the issues we have got still so far. I'm thinking of the porpoising and the bouncing that has affected our performance over the weekend.

"So we again try to work on that specific point. But, for the upgrades and more, let me say significant ones, it will be for later on in the season."

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