Ferrari Zoff: Charles Leclerc upset with Sainz / Formula 1

“He fights harder against me than any other driver,” complained Charles Leclerc after the race in China. This meant his teammate Carlos Sainz, who must leave the Ferrari cockpit for Lewis Hamilton after the current season. In fact, the teammates from the world’s oldest GP racing team had nothing to offer in the first small race of the season, and Leclerc eventually crossed the finish line in fourth place, directly ahead of Sainz.

The stewards closely watched the fight between the two red racers and especially in the area of ​​the 14th corner where Sainz pushed his teammate away, but came to the conclusion that no further investigation was needed. Leclerc himself explained after the race: “It was chaotic, maybe a little too much between me and Carlos. I think Carlos was over the limit today.”

“We’ve had fights in the past where sometimes I crossed the line. But I think today he went a little too far. We’ll discuss this, as we always do in situations like this. But we have a good relationship and I’m sure we can finish this very quickly. But today we were both lucky to be able to “To start the race, we were very close and I don’t think it was necessary because I had a good look at the tire and I had a good pace towards the end. Maybe I would have caught Sergio Pérez because he was struggling,” added the 26-year-old.

However, after the race, Sainz was angered by his partner Fernando Alonso, who came too close to him and paid a heavy price for him: the Aston Martin veteran left school with a flat tire.

“I gave it my all, maybe a little bit at the beginning against Max Verstappen, because I put a lot of pressure on my tires. But I knew that if I could pass him I could win. After that I saved my tires and stayed behind Fernando for a while. Later I passed him and he was and very hopeful trying to get back in front. He pushed me out of the way and that confirmed my car and the tires went the wrong way. “It was going well up to that point, but that cost us both the race,” complained the Ferrari driver.

“After the contact I went around a lot and tried to defend myself, then I met Charles and I apologize if I crossed the limit. “But we all fought a lot this time and I did my best to control the car,” added the 29-year-old.

Sprint, Shanghai International Circuit

01. Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing, 32:04,160 minutes
02. Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes, +13,043 sec
03. Sergio Pérez (MEX), Red Bull Racing, +15,258
04. Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari, +17,486
05. Carlos Sainz (E), Ferrari, +20,696
06. Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, +22.099
07. Oscar Piastri (AUS), McLaren, +24.713
08. George Russell (GB), Mercedes, +25,696
09. Guanyu Zhou (RCH), Sauber, +31,951
10. Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, +37.398
11. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), Racing Bull, +37,840
12. Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Sauber, +38.295
13. Esteban Ocon (F), Alpine, +39,841
14. Lance Stroll (CDN), Aston Martin, +40,299
15. Pierre Gasly (F), Alpine, +40,838
16. Yuki Tsunoda (J), Racing Bulls, +41,870
17. Alex Albon (T), Williams, +42,998
18. Logan Sargeant (USA), Williams, +46,352
19. Nico Hülkenberg (D), Haas, +49,630
outside
Fernando Alonso (E), Aston Martin, tire damage

World Championship Position (after 4 out of 24 Grands Prix and 1 out of 6 Sprints)

the driver
01. Verstappen 85 points
02. Perez 70
03. Leclerc 64
04. Sainz 59
05. Norris 40
06. Plate 34
07. Russell 25
08. Alonso 24
09. Hamilton 17
10. Walk 7
11. Tsunoda 7
12. Oliver Bearman (GB) 6
13. Hulkenberg 3
14. Magnussen 1
15. Alboni 0
16. Zhou 0
17. Ricciardo 0
18. Okon 0
19. 0 gas
20. Bota 0
21. Sergeant 0

Builders Cup
01. Racing Red Bull 155 Punkte
02. Ferrari 129
03. McLaren 74
04. Mercedes 42
05. Aston Martin 33
06. Running Bull 7
07. Especially 4
08. Williams 0
09. Sauber 0
10. Alpine 0