Caught on camera appearing to ignore Carlos Sainz after
his team-mate won the Mexican Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc is “very angry” with
people’s snap judgments.
Leclerc was
notably frustrated after qualifying at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez when he
finished in fourth place while Sainz grabbed pole position.
Charles Leclerc: People judge on two seconds of coverage
The Monegasque driver launched a sweary rant, but one
that was aimed at himself. “S***. S***. F****** s*** lap,” he lamented to his
race engineer Bryan Bozzi. “F****** s*** lap!”
He worked his way up to second place in the Grand Prix
behind Sainz only for the Spaniard to complain that Leclerc was making him push
too hard.
“My opinion is that we are pushing too hard, absolutely
no need for the team,” Sainz said over the radio.
It was a message that Leclerc was not made aware of but
it formed some of the basis for speculation that the eight-time Grand Prix
winner was not happy his team-mate.
Parking his Ferrari behind the P3 board having lost out
on second when he made a mistake that allowed Lando Norris through, Leclerc
walked past Sainz as he was taking his helmet off and seemed to barely greet
him.
Social media was alight with talk of tension between the
team-mates.
But asked about that by Sky Deutschland‘s Timo Glock
when the German interviewed him a week later in Brazil, Leclerc voiced his
displeasure at people making snap judgements.
“I’m very happy you brought it up,” he told Glock,
“because I’m very angry with what I’ve seen everywhere. People judge on two
seconds of coverage.
“And actually before that, I went to see Carlos and there was no tension because I don’t even know what he was requesting at the beginning of the race.”
