Ferrari’s Leclerc unhappy with Sainz clash at Spanish GP

BARCELONA, Spain – Charles Leclerc felt Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz was trying to do “something a bit spectacular” to impress interested teams and his home crowd when they clashed at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Sainz passed Leclerc around the outside of the first corner at the start of the third lap of the race.

As they hit the apex, Leclerc’s front wing clipped Sainz’s right rear tyre.

Leclerc felt like his teammate had gone against the approach the team agreed on before the race.

“We had a clear strategy at the beginning of the race with the team to both save tyres to attack late on,” he said. “Carlos on that lap didn’t do any saving in Turn 14 of course had an opportunity to overtake in Turn One, which is a bit of a shame because we lost time between us.

“I damaged my front wing because Carlos didn’t see that I was in the inside and that makes our race more difficult.”

Leclerc suggested that was part of why Sainz drove the way he did.

“I didn’t understand the point of doing that, when it was clearly stated the following race that we had to save in this part of the race,” Leclerc said.

“It’s a bit unnecessary, but I also understand that it’s his home race, and it’s also an important moment of his career, so I guess he wanted to do something a bit spectacular, but I probably wasn’t the right person to do that with.”

Leclerc still finished ahead of Sainz as the pair settled for a distant fifth and sixth.

After the race video circulated of Leclerc and Sainz having a conversation immediately after they stepped out of their cars.

Speaking to the media later, Sainz said he was not interested in Leclerc’s point of view on the incident.

“I think too many times he complains after a race about something. Obviously hot, he might think that,” he said. “Honestly at this point of the season I don’t know. I was on the attack, we were on a new soft, Mercedes were on a used soft and we had to go on the attack in the first laps when you are on a new tyre and try to pass them, like we said even before the race.

“I passed Charles because I don’t know if he did a mistake or he was managing a bit too much.”