Charles Leclerc to adjust approach to battling other cars if Verstappen move goes unpunished. Charles will adjust F1 approach if Verstappen move goes unpunished.

Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc admitted that he intends to adjust his approach to fighting other cars if the stewards decides stick with their decision not to penalise Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix at the Interlagos Circuit.

After Max Verstappen defended against Lewis Hamilton by pushing him off the road at Turn 4 in last week’s race at Interlagos, the stewards decided not to open a formal investigation into the incident during the race, in which Max Verstappen eventually finished second.

Yet Mercedes eventually submitted a request of a right to appeal triggered by video evidence from Max Verstappen’s forward facing camera that was not available to the stewards at the time of the incidet. Charles Leclerc says if the stewards do not now sanction Verstappen he will adjust his driving, just as he did after his own incident with the Dutchman at the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix.

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On that occasion the Red Bull driver went unpunished after forcing his way by and nudging Charles Leclerc off the road in the closing laps of the race before going on to take victory.

“Yeah, you always need to adapt to every situation, every decision the stewards are doing. As soon as I knew that it wasn’t a penalty for Max in Austria, I came to Silverstone and I changed my driving. So I think that’s a bit the same for every driver, we will always try to race at the limits of what we’re allowed to do. And that’s what I will do if in case these these things are allowed. Austria it was a bit of a different situation again, and after that we could race a bit harder, which I think was good for F1, for the show. This situation was another one. I’ll leave it to the stewards to just see what they think.” – the Monegasque driver explained.

Charles Leclerc insisted he had no preference in terms of outcome: “Honestly, I really don’t mind. But whatever is allowed, then I just want it to be clear as a driver. That’s the only thing that matters to me. If this is allowed, then overtaking around the outside is going to be very difficult. “But yeah, whatever the situation, the decision is, I’ll just adapt my driving to it; so I’m fine with both.” – he concluded.