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Leclerc adamant he left Vettel space before crash

Published on 17 Nov 2019 20:38
4
By: Dieter Rencken & Fergal Walsh

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc has spoke about his disappointment over the incident with teammate Sebastian Vette l during this afternoon's Brazilian Grand Prix, which left both Ferrari cars out of the race.

The Ferrari duo collided at Turn 4 as they battled for fourth position late on in the race, bringing out the second safety car of the Grand Prix.

Leclerc is adamant however that he left enough room for his teammate to get by, and admits that he cannot understand how the pair managed to collide.

"I overtook him at Turn 1, I enjoyed that overtake." Leclerc explained. "Then at Turn 3 I had to close (the gap) because I was aware that Seb would try it again.

"He did, he went around the outside, where there was little space. But I left the space. At the end of the straight, he started to squeeze me a little bit to the inside.

Leclerc explained that he initially believed the incident happened too quick to realise who was at fault and that he had not yet spoken to anyone about the incident, apart from team principal Mattia Binotto.

Leclerc is positive however that he will be able to maturely discuss the incident with Vettel and that both drivers will be able to move on and go forward from this incident.

"Everything happened very quick. As soon as he moved to the inside we touched and I had a puncture. I spoke to Mattia but that's it.

"I haven't spoken to Seb yet, but I am sure that we are both mature enough to put it behind us. We both feel sorry for the team.

"This is the end result, both cars not finishing and it's very disappointing. For the future, we will put it behind us and continue to work together."

F1 News Sebastian Vettel Charles Leclerc Ferrari

Replies (4)

ajpennypacker

Posts: 2,475
Just like Turkey 2010, this was Lewis turning in on a teammate, causing a collision, and taking zero responsability. This, however, is not Red Bull and Leclerc is no Mark Webber. It will be interesting. I love the tension this will create
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- Nov 17 2019 - 22:14
Ram Samartha

Posts: 1,172
Seb and Ham like all great champions know that they have to flex their muscles from time to time to make their teammates and other drivers think twice about any moves, if it means a double DNF then so be it. It was the perfect race to do it from Seb's perspective. I wouldn't be surprised if he did something like that again next race. He has nothing to lose and he needs to at least match the aggressiveness of the younger drivers if not exceed it. I'm not saying it's right but there's a psychological element to doing things like that. It sends a message.
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- Nov 18 2019 - 07:44
JuJuHound

Posts: 352
Seb doesn't see any problem here since Turkey accident with Webber when Red Bull should told him you should not push your teammate into the grass and they did nothing to him. Many times he was doing this - Hungary 2015 to Lewis, Mexico 2019 to Lewis. And this time Leclerc said NO, or even didn;t yes YES.
I'm so dissapointed and angry at Seb, he should let it go, but hot head woke up again.
Goodby nr 1 to Sev at Ferrari
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- Nov 18 2019 - 08:51
- Dert38
  
  Posts: 377
  This looser never was fast enough, just cunning enough, generally saying he could've done something only on a 1,5 second faster car... His "hero" season in "torro rosso" was obviously overhyped as his teammates showed same results. Hamilton is a good racer at least, also cunning of cause, but this clown... i really hate you seb, pls retire. You destroyed another great race and after THAT LECLERC SHOULD SAY SORRRRY???? WTF clown
  + 0
  
  Nov 20 2019 - 20:43