Charles Leclerc Defends His Turn 4 Move On Teammate That Cost Ferrari Mexico GP Victory

With Ferrari fans left disappointed after not being able to take home a race win in Mexico City, Charles Leclerc has come forward to defend his opening-lap move on Lewis Hamilton. Having attacked his teammate in Turn 4, Leclerc emerged ahead of the scrap, but it was far from a clean move.

In the eyes of Leclerc, “there was a gap on the outside, and I had quite a lot of speed around the outside of Turn 1, and there was very little space for Turn 2, which is expected for the win obviously.”

Detailing further, Leclerc stated that on Turns 4 and 5, “Lewis (Hamilton) and I both tried to brake very late. We both didn’t make the corner; I obviously cut the track.” As the two drivers made their way out of Turn 5, Max Verstappen had split them, making the situation confusing for the race leader.

Ultimately, Leclerc was handed a five-second penalty for cutting the corner and keeping the advantage, with Verstappen capitalizing on the situation to ultimately go on and win the race. Meanwhile, Hamilton was left irritated at seeing a possible race win slip out of his hands, as he called on Ferrari to talk things over.

Hamilton Was Fuming After the Charles Leclerc Incident

Having seen the race lead disappear from his hands after ‘unnecessary’ aggression from his teammate, Hamilton was left fuming at the prospect of what could have been. During a red flag period caused by a freak crash of Valtteri Bottas’ Cadillac, the British driver went on team radio to say, “We’ve got big problems. Big, big problems.”

Speaking to the F1 media after the race, Hamilton detailed that his issue was with the fact that his team could “easily” have had a one-two finish. The team could have controlled pretty much the entire race if they had just held position.

Therefore, Hamilton feels Ferrari needs to set some rules of engagement between its drivers. Whether or not it will change anything from Charles’ side remains to be seen, but the 41-year-old is certain that something needs to change for sure.

Meanwhile, when Leclerc learned that Hamilton was unhappy, he stated that he would be having a word with his teammate. Asserting that they both didn’t make the corner, Leclerc was unsure whether his teammate wanted him to drop down to P3. But with Verstappen in P2, the Monegasque driver figured it best to hold on to P1.

Fred Vasseur Left Frustrated by Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in Mexico City

While the two teammates tussled with each other on the track and then on the radio, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur was left far from impressed at what he was witnessing. He pointed out that he was frustrated at the way things played out in Mexico for his team.

The Frenchman added that it was particularly unfair for the ‘2000 people’ working for the Ferrari project and that he will need time to digest what happened. “We’ll discuss it tonight, fix it tomorrow, and then we’ll be focused on the cycle.”

To rub salt in Ferrari’s wounds, Verstappen detailed that the team was certainly the fastest on the weekend. However, the in-fighting on the team made it difficult for them to focus on winning. That’s why the Dutchman was able to capitalize on the opening lap.

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