There is no bad blood between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. according to the Ferrari teammates themselves, despite the mixed emotions seen after the British Grand Prix.
Sainz Jr. won his first Formula 1 race at Silverstone on Sunday and while the Spaniard was delighted, Leclerc was not after his chance of victory was diminished.
The Monegask had been faster than Sainz Jr. for much of the race, but a late safety car in the closing stages allowed the latter to pit for new tires while the former was left out on older, slower tyres.
At the restart, with the Ferraris 1-2, the Scuderia Sainz Jr. to stay behind Leclerc, but he defied orders and immediately took the lead, leaving his teammate at the mercy of the faster cars behind him, with Leclerc eventually finishing fourth behind Sergio Perez and Sir Lewis Hamilton†
After the race, the Ferrari team was noticeably divided, with some celebrating with Sainz Jr. while others were visibly unhappy about the debacle, with team boss Mattia Binotto seemingly arguing with Leclerc after he expressed his frustrations.
Ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, the two drivers were asked about a possible split, but both denied any animosity towards each other.
‘As always, he’ [Leclerc] behaved like the gentleman he is and the [post-race] briefing was normal,” Sainz Jr. said.
“The way it goes when I have a bad race it’s a normal briefing and as it goes when he has a bad race it’s a normal briefing. It’s one of the strengths we have as teammates and as drivers, and as team spirit we have at Ferrari.
“I would have done the same again and I think the team understood my position perfectly. Ferrari won, I won, so it was definitely not a wrong decision.
‘I knew perfectly what I had to do. I knew not to put Charles in a compromised position, but also to give Ferrari a race win – that’s what the team cares about most and I think everything I did was sensible. I didn’t endanger or pressure Charles unnecessarily while overtaking him, knowing I would overtake him quite easily on the soft track.”
Leclerc, for his part, clarified what had been said between him and Binotto: “He was mad at me for being too down, so he tried to cheer me up. Everyone wondered why he was wagging his finger at me, but I think he was just frustrated to see me so down after such a great race.
“On the other hand, it’s understandable of course, he understood my disappointment: he led the race and finished fourth.”
Although Ferrari had the fastest car this season, both drivers are behind the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Perez in the standings, while Leclerc has failed to finish on the podium in five races thanks to a mix of poor reliability and poor strategy calls.
The 24-year-old added: “We just have to make sure things like this don’t happen too much in a season and for me it’s more the accumulation in the last five races that is hard to take.
‘I am just as motivated as before. I’m going into this weekend with full confidence that we can have a great weekend, and looking at the long term, I still believe as much as I did [that we can win] the championships.
“I feel the support of the team. It hasn’t gone well the last couple of races, but again I think we’re working as hard internally as ever.”
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