Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc denies he was rebuked and gagged by team principal Mattia Binotto at the end of the 2022 British Grand Prix which took place yesterday at the Silverstone circuit. Charles Leclerc was of course disappointed with the outcome of the British GP, after losing another win following a series of poor races due to reliability issues and bad strategy calls, which have led to Max Verstappen gaining a solid gap in front of the Drivers’ standings.
The British Grand Prix looked to be a great chance for Charles Leclerc to reduce this gap to Max Verstappen and for Scuderia Ferrari to get closer to Red Bull, given the fact that both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez had a difficult race at Silverstone, despite the fact that the Mexican driver took advantage of the late Safety car to finish in second place.
Carlos Sainz secured his first Formula 1 win as a result of Ferrari’s strategy decisions, while his teammate Charles Leclerc was on the receiving end of Mattia Binotto’s wagging finger at the end of the British Grand Prix, ahead of his post-race interviews.
“He wanted to cheer me up, that’s all,” Charles Leclerc, whose points deficit to Max Verstappen only diminished to 43 points despite the fact that the Dutchman finished seventh due to floor damage, said of the Mattia Binotto dressing-down.
At the same time, the Italian side’s team principal explained there was “nothing to sort out internally. It was simply to tell him ‘I understand your disappointment, but you did a fantastic race today’. Being happy is difficult, but staying calm and positive is important,” the Ferrari boss added.
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Charles Leclerc added that “we will have to look at things overall. As for me, I can only talk about the race and I feel like I lost too much time. But that’s just my opinion. I don’t want all the attention on my disappointing performance anyway. My teammate had his first Formula 1 race win and this is a special occasion. But I can’t hide my disappointment.”
When asked if he felt the British Grand Prix represented a wasted chance to reduce the deficit to Max Verstappen more significantly, the Monegasque driver concluded: “It’s pretty obvious.”
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