Carlos Sainz blasted by Charles Leclerc as Ferrari stars clash at Chinese GP

20 April 2024 , 06:35

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Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Charles Leclerc accused Carlos Sainz of being "over the limit" as they scrapped on track during the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint.

Both Ferrari racers were in the hunt for third place in Saturday's short-form race. And they weren't the only ones, with Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso also fighting in a four-way melee.

Perez was the one who came out on top, while Leclerc was fourth ahead of his Ferrari team-mate. But the Monegasque was left unimpressed by Sainz's conduct on track as he reflected on the fight after the race.

He was pushed wide by Sainz at Turn 14 and felt the Spaniard had gone too far. Leclerc said: "I think it was aggressive, maybe, between Carlos and I - a bit too aggressive. I think Carlos was a bit over the limit today.

"In the past we've had other fights where sometimes I was over the limit, sometimes he was over the limit. Today I think it was on his side. We'll have to discuss, like we always do in these kind of situations.

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"But we have a great relationship with Carlos so I have no worries... I think we'll clear the air very, very quickly and it will be all fine, but obviously today I think we were pretty lucky to both finish the race. The contact was a bit unnecessary."

Sainz admitted that he may have gone a little too far in that battle against the other Ferrari. "I was pushing Max [Verstappen] hard at the beginning because I knew if I was passing him I had a strong chance of winning the race," the 29-year-old said.

"That probably killed my tyres a bit and then I was managing [them] for the rest of the race until I got Fernando. I did a really good move around the outside of Turn 7, from then on he decided to be a bit of all or nothing into Turn 9 which cost us both the race.

"I think I picked up damage and a lot of dirt on my tyre from the optimistic move, I was doing everything I could to defend and sliding. I had a bit of a moment with Charles. I apologise if I did something over the limit but we were all racing really hard today, I was trying my best to keep it under control."

Max Verstappen overcame a slow start to cut through from fourth on the grid and win comfortably. Lewis Hamilton was second while pole-sitter Lando Norris fell to sixth after botching his first corner fight against his fellow Briton.

Daniel Moxon