Instantly after the dash race Leclerc mentioned he needed to talk to team-mate Sainz about his “over the restrict” defensive driving when the pair appeared to conflict at Flip 14.
Talking after grand prix qualifying afterward Saturday in Shanghai, Leclerc acknowledged he had spoken to his fellow Ferrari driver to clear the air.
“Sure, it’s all achieved and it’s all good. No issues,” Leclerc mentioned.
“I’m not going to reveal all the small print of our discussions as a result of it’s all the time non-public discussions and it ought to stay non-public however the discussions went nicely and we’re all nice.”
Nonetheless, in his personal media briefing, Sainz appeared to contradict Leclerc whereas blaming the brand new dash race weekend schedule for stopping them from having an in-depth dialogue.
“The truth is that we did not handle to speak, as a result of clearly with this format it is not such as you get time to speak with one another a lot,” Sainz mentioned. “We’ll most likely accomplish that tonight.”
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24
Photograph by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Pictures
Regardless of the incident, each drivers seem keen to maneuver on after the frantic Chinese language GP dash race and deal with Sunday’s grand prix, during which Leclerc begins sixth and Sainz seventh.
“There’s nothing spicy about it. There’s nothing to say or do,” Sainz mentioned. “I feel we had been racing actually exhausting within the dash. We had been racing very exhausting additionally among the different vehicles, and I did not complain.
“It is only a matter of clearly maintaining as a lot area as attainable to your team-mate, which I’ll all the time attempt to do and I’ve all the time achieved in my profession.
“It is simply, yeah, I used to be in a nasty spot there after the automobile harm from Fernando, the ground was utterly damaged, a whole lot of filth on my tyres, so it is not like I might have achieved lots.”
Moments earlier than the Flip 14 flashpoint between the Ferrari pair, which was famous by the FIA stewards however not investigated, Sainz was battling with Fernando Alonso and the pair made gentle contact at Flip 7 and once more at Flip 9.
The latter incident landed the Aston Martin driver a post-sprint race 10-second penalty and three penalty factors.
