F1 China, Leclerc: “Sainz too aggressive”, Sainz: “I apologize”

Between duels, contacts and overtaking, the Sprint Race entertained those who got up at dawn to follow it. Max Verstappen won ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez. but one of the hottest moments of the race was certainly given by the Ferrari drivers, protagonists of a battle with no holds barred in which they also came into contact. The winner was Charles Leclerc, fourth at the finish line ahead of Carlos Sainz. “Carlos was aggressive today, there will be a discussion as always in these cases. I’m not worried that going forward there might be bad weather,” commented the Monegasque. “I apologize if I was too aggressive,” replied the Spaniard.

leclerc

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Charles Leclerc commented on his duel with teammate Carlos Sainz: “We have had other battles in which I was very aggressive, today I think Carlos was. I’m not worried that there might be bad air, we will talk about it and clarify it“. Leclerc also underlined how the contact occurred when the two red standard bearers were in different racing situations: “There was contact between us when we were in a slightly different situation. I think Carlos was starting to struggle with the tyres, while I was still quite good. It was difficult to overtake because the three cars in front of me had Drs. By fighting we lost two and a half seconds on Perez and then it was too late to recover.” Leclerc finally spoke about the objectives for qualifying, which will not take place in the Sprint: “It’s important to try to place ahead of Max. Yesterday in SQ1 and in SQ2 I did a good job and I found the feeling again. It doesn’t mean it will be the same this afternoon because there is a very thin line between doing well and doing badly. However, I have worked a lot and I am confident that I have made progress.”

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sainz

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Carlos Sainz commented on his start as follows: “I think I had a good start. I pushed hard to pass Max at the start: I knew that if I overtook him there would be a chance to win today because I had the new tyre. Trying to pass him, however, I destroyed the tires. Then I managed until the end.” The Spaniard, in addition to the one with Leclerc, had an equally tough duel (always with contact) with Fernando Alonso, which cost the latter his retirement: “I had an opportunity to pass Fernando and I did it at the outside in turn 7. I think he was very optimistic when he tried to overtake me at turn 9, which cost him the race and me too. He made a move a little at the limit, or above the limit… Ho I had several damages to the car from the contact. Then the dirty tires led me to slide everywhere.” Sainz obviously also spoke about the fight with his teammate Charles Leclerc: “I was messed up after the duel with Fernando and I had damage to the car, as well as destroyed tires. Charles says I was too aggressive, I still have to look. If he says I’m been too aggressive, then let’s say that’s how it is. I’m sorry. Today the whole world was there fighting, making movements to the limit. Without the duel with Fernando, everything else wouldn’t have happened.”