Charles Leclerc has downplayed an apologetic team-mate Lewis Hamilton to complete a late Ferrari team order in the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Leclerc and Hamilton endured yet another difficult race weekend on the streets of Baku, after a weekend that promised so much more for the Scuderia.
The Italian marque now sits a whopping 337 points behind McLaren in the Constructors’ standings after Sunday.
Leclerc slotted in behind his team-mate in ninth, rounding off yet another disappointing outing for the Monegasque this season.
An untelevised radio message, however, later revealed that Leclerc’s misery was compounded by Hamilton ignoring a crucial team order in the dying embers of the race.
Leclerc’s engineer, Bryan Bozzi, had asked the 27-year-old told swap positions with the Briton.
“So, Charles, we want to swap the cars in turn one and let Lewis try with the Mediums,” he had said on the team’s airwaves.
The understanding was that if the 40-year-old had failed to make any inroads, he would hand the position back.
On the final lap, Bozzi informed Leclerc, “We will swap back at the end of the lap on the main straight if Lewis doesn’t overtake.
“Lewis will let you by on the main straight.”
Hamilton’s engineer, Ricardo Adami, too, relayed this message to the seven-time World Champion.
“You can let Charles by, he’s one and a half behind you,” he said.
“This is the last lap. Behind him is Hadjar, two seconds, Charles 1.5 behind. Let him by.”
However, while Hamilton did visibly slow down, Leclerc could not cross the chequered flag in time to overtake him — finishing half-a-second behind the 40-year-old.
Leclerc ‘doesn’t really mind’ as Hamilton promises Ferrari: ‘It won’t happen again’
After last year’s late push for the Constructors’ title with McLaren, the Maranello-based squad came into this season with expectations of giving the Woking-based team a tugh fight right from the start.
That said, the inherent deficiencies of the SF-25 have meant that both Hamilton and Leclerc have struggled to fight consistently at the sharp end of the field.
Naturally, with low-scoring positions at stake, Leclerc was adamant that he was unperturbed by Hamilton’s insistence to retain the eighth.
“Honestly for the P8 or the P9 it’s not going to be a big talking point,” he said after the race.
“I don’t really mind. Usually these are things that we agree between guys and the general rules of how we want to work whenever there is a swap.
“It didn’t happen and that’s okay. It’s not like I would have been a lot happier being P8. So I don’t mind.”
Hamilton was quick to offer his apologies to Leclerc for the error, admitting he was concentrating on a hopeful overtake on Lando Norris, who finished just ahead in seventh.
“Obviously I was quicker but Charles was gracious to let me by,” he said.
“At the end, I got the message really late on and I was zoned in on the car in front of me.
“Even though there was like, 0.001 per cent chance of passing, I was still hopeful.
“I did lift on the straight and did actually brake, but missed it by like four-tenths. That was just a misjudgement from myself.
“I’ll apologise to Charles, but at the end of the day, it’s eighth and ninth. But it won’t happen again.”
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