Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc will not be forced into making “silly comments” over his team’s team orders given to him to allow Sebastian Vettel past him in China.
Charles Leclerc had to settle with a fifth-place finish in China, having being third at the end of the opening lap. The Monegasque driver, was demanded to let Vettel overtake him during the first stint.
He was then left vulnerable to Max Verstappen in fifth – who eventually overtook Leclerc – after pit-stops and he stayed there for the remainder of the race. Leclerc described the first stint of the race as “a little bit messy” and will be asking for more information about Ferrari’s tactics.
“With Seb, I need to understand the full picture, see the full picture to speak with the engineers and understand the decision,” Leclerc said to RaceFans in the immediate aftermath of the 1,000th F1 race.
“I’m sure there’s an explanation behind this decision and I will understand it. Anyway, it’s past. It has not been a great race for me. Overall, the weekend has not been as strong as I wanted. Driving in qualifying was OK, but FP1, FP2, FP3 and also going in the race without any mileage on the high-fuel runs was not ideal. Overall today was not a good day but we’ll come back stronger.”
Leclerc ran an extra bit longer before his second pit-stop to briefly delay Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes, something which was a tactical decision from Ferrari, the youngster confirmed.
“If you look at my own race, I think we obviously (should) have pitted earlier,” Leclerc continued. “If you look at the (team’s) race, I think they did the right thing trying to slow down the Mercedes for Seb to come back which I believe was the target.
“It didn’t work but it was the target so at least we tried and we will look forward now.”
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