Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur has cooled Charles Leclerc’s claim his clash with team-mate Carlos Sainz denied him a better result in Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix.
Leclerc was enraged when Sainz made a move down his inside into Turn 1 on the third lap which saw the duo touch and the Spaniard retain the position off the track.
The Monegasque revealed post-race that the light contact caused damage to his car and compromised his prospects as he ended four-tenths behind George Russell.
However, Vasseur contended that there were multiple occasions in the race that could be highlighted as points where Leclerc lost the missing margin to fourth place.
“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 also later on,” he said.
“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.”
Leclerc also stated in his post-race interview that Sainz had gone against a pre-planned arrangement to retain their positions and preserve the rubber in the first stint.
Vasseur wouldn’t be drawn on whether the Spaniard ignored an agreement between drivers and the team, which Leclerc put down to wanting to impress at home soil.
“We don’t speak like this about the strategy of the race,” Vasseur expressed.
“But we knew before that if you have a look on all the races in Barcelona for 25 years now, the first stint is a bit boring. It’s more to take position on track.
“And then when you start the pit stop to have still potential into the tire to push. And it was more the approach, but it’s not that don’t push turn one, don’t push turn two.”
Vasseur denied he was concerned the relationship between the two Ferrari drivers could deteriorate amid the second contentious incident between the pair this term.
Asked whether he was worried this could be a turning point between the two, the Frenchman said: “No, out of the car they have a very good relationship and good mutual trust.
“Now they are racers, for sure you can have this kind of case. But I know also perfectly that from this emulation we are getting a lot.
“Last year, if we recover, it’s also because you had this emulation between them and this competition all over the season.
“And it’s not just we have the cons, sometimes what happened today, but it’s not the match on the car was nothing. And it’s part of the game.”
Discussion about this post