Your Route to Real News

Ferrari boss makes his stance clear amid Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc row

24 June 2024 , 13:44
601     0
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc clashed during the Spanish Grand Prix (Image: Formula 1 via Getty Images)
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc clashed during the Spanish Grand Prix (Image: Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Frederic Vasseur was unmoved amid questions of tension between Ferrari drivers after Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz publicly criticised each other.

The Ferrari drivers were not pleased with one another's actions after the Spanish Grand Prix. They made contact during the race when Sainz overtook Leclerc and the latter, unimpressed with that move, voiced his frustration as he spoke to reporters.

He pointed to the fact he finished half-a-second behind George Russell as a consequence of that duel with his team-mate and said: "We discussed before the race that it was the part of the race where we both had to manage tyres as much as possible. We know how much turn 14 is to do that so I did, but apparently Carlos wasn't in the last corner and took that opportunity to overtake.

"It's a shame, because that put us on the back foot and it damaged my front wing for the rest of the race. It was a small [bit of] damage but everything makes a difference and when you see how close we were to George at the end, it's a shame. We'll have a discussion inside the team and I'm sure it will be fine for the next race.

Sainz wasn't as understanding as Leclerc expected, though, and snapped back by saying: "Too many times he complains after the race about something... I passed Charles - I don't know if he made a mistake or was managing a bit too much, and then I went on and nearly passed Lewis... I was just trying out there what I have to try as a driver."

Inside the driver call which upset Red Bull and changed the course of F1 history qhiqqkikhiqrtprwInside the driver call which upset Red Bull and changed the course of F1 history

Team principal Vasseur wasn't willing to give the spat the time of days as he was asked about it later on. And he also dismissed Leclerc's claim that his battle with Sainz was the reason why he finished behind Russell.

The Frenchman said: "I think you can find 10 examples of 10 circumstances in the race where we missed half a second, or others that were after when Carlos let him go very easily also later on. And we missed a couple of tenths during two or three laps. Let us discuss and not to draw a conclusion after the first comment of the driver when he jumped out of the car."

Ferrari boss makes his stance clear amid Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc rowTeam boss Fred Vasseur is calm about the situation at Ferrari (Getty Images)

It was an underwhelming weekend for Ferrari who finished behind both Mercedes cars as well as winner Max Verstappen and second-placed Lando Norris. But Vasseur said he was still "satisfied" with the progress being made at Maranello and pointed out that it is difficult to make gains relative to rivals when they too are bringing upgrades.

He said: "Everybody is improving. That means that it is not that because you bring something that you will do a jump in front. It is that if you don't bring, you will do a jump backwards. Everybody is bringing parts now, each two or three events.

"Sometimes you have the list of what we are publishing, but it is just an aero. Don't forget that we are not developing just the aero. And then sometimes we need also one or two events before to get the best from the package that we have. We have a kind of convergence of performance today over the last 12 months."

Daniel Moxon

Print page

Comments:

comments powered by Disqus