Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were in the midst of a fierce battle during F1’s first Sprint race of the season in China. Things between the Ferrari drivers got so heated that after the race, the first thing Leclerc did was ask his team to have a discussion with Sainz.
With Fernando Alonso retiring and Sergio Perez taking P3, Leclerc and Sainz were left scrambling for fourth place. The battle for the same got out of hand according to Leclerc, who felt that Sainz crossed a line. Leclerc took to the team radio and gave them an idea about what he wanted to talk about during the post-race debrief.
Unbelievable. He leaves him NO SPACE!#F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/4XcjRAZr6b
— CL16__FanpageFr (@Cl16__FanpageFr) April 20, 2024
Leclerc complained about Sainz being more aggressive with him than he was with Ferrari’s rivals. In the immediate aftermath of the race, Leclerc said,
“Let’s speak. We’re fighting more. He’s fighting more me than the others. Anyway.”
Sainz’s aggressive move on Leclerc came when the Spaniard appeared to push his teammate off track by leaving him close to no space. This happened more than once, with the second one almost bringing their cars together. This also allowed Perez to build a huge gap ahead, and coast home to secure P3 in the race.
Charles Leclerc enraged with the actions of his Ferrari teammate
Following the Sprint session, Leclerc spoke to the media, well aware of what the primary topic of discussion would be. Addressing the incident, Leclerc labeled it to be a “shame” that teammates were fighting amongst themselves. He admitted that he too, has had moments where he was ultra-aggressive with his teammates. However, to him, what Sainz did was a bit too much,
Charles : “On va en parler (l’incident), parce qu’on s’est touché et c’est dans ces moments-là qu’il faut parler et éviter que ça se reproduise, mais clairement aujourd’hui il a dépassé la limite mais on en parlera et demain j’espère que ce sera mieux.”#F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/9wug94OJZW
— CL16__FanpageFr (@Cl16__FanpageFr) April 20, 2024
During the tussle between the Ferrari stars, Sainz barely left any room for Leclerc. Once the Monegasque found some space, he completed the overtaking maneuver on Sainz. Unaware of his radio being on, Leclerc reacted by mumming the words, “What the f*ck?!” His engineer came calling for Leclerc to switch the radio off as soon as he got the chance.
In front of the media, Leclerc claimed he and Sainz needed to talk about what happened. Chasing Red Bull in the championship, it is moments like these that Ferrari needs to address. If they want to succeed in their goals, the Italian outfit needs to ensure such incidents don’t take place again, and Leclerc understands that. Hence, he wants to talk things out with his teammates and hopes to avoid incidents like this in the future.
