Charles Leclerc has questioned “wrong headlines” that took his comments over his relationship with former Ferrari Formula 1 team-mate Carlos Sainz “out of context.”
After four seasons together at F1’s most famous team, Sainz has left Leclerc to join Williams, making way for his 2025 replacement Lewis Hamilton.
Leclerc was quoted saying the following of Sainz ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix: “I’ve said it many times, on one hand, it’s not like I’m going miss him like crazy, because he will still be in the paddock, maybe 20 metres away.”
Ahead of their final race together in Abu Dhabi, Leclerc sought to clear the air on how he felt the above quote had been misappropriated.
“I’ve seen some wrong headlines in the past few days,” Leclerc told select media including Motorsport Week.
“My words have been put a little bit out of context. Especially in the fact that I won’t miss Carlos.
“I was just saying that because he’s 20 meters away in the paddock.
“Honestly, I’ve had an incredible relationship with Carlos. Really, in terms of person, he’s such a good person.
“We’ve always had a really, really good relationship.”
Charles Leclerc looks back fondly on how he managed Ferrari conflicts with Carlos Sainz
Leclerc’s Qatar comments came less than a week after his rant over team radio in Las Vegas, where he felt Sainz had disobeyed team orders.
“I did my job but being nice f**ks me over all the f**king time, all the f**king time,” Leclerc fumed to his race engineer as the race in Nevada concluded.
It’s not the first time Leclerc and Sainz have aired frustrations on track, but the Monegasque driver said that he’ll “remember” how they’ve always resolved those situations peacefully.
“Yes, we’ve had our tensions on the track sometimes but it’s normal,” Leclerc explained.
“At the end, we are both racing for Ferrari, but we’re also racing to try and win races.
“When we are so close on track, sometimes there are things that are not going to be agreed by both parties.
“I think the thing I’ll remember is that every time there was this kind of thing, we always got out a bit stronger and closer together.
“We have a really, really good relationship. We also have a lot of things that we share outside the track.
“I’m sure that even though [Sainz] won’t be in red next year, we’ll most likely travel together on the races to spend some time together.
“Because our relationship is really good. So yes, I wish him the best.”
READ MORE – Carlos Sainz clarifies Charles Leclerc spat at Ferrari after F1 Las Vegas GP
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