“He’s being selfish” F1 fans not impressed with Charles Leclerc repeatedly asking to be let by teammate Carlos Sainz at São Paulo GP
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Charles Leclerc (Images through IMAGO / HochZwei)
Charles Leclerc had a frustrating Sunday in Interlagos. On lap 7, after the safety car restart, Charles Leclerc attempted to pass Norris down the outside, but the pair of them made contact, and the Monegasque spun off and hit the barriers. He was able to continue but needed a front wing change, which dropped him to last on the grid.
Then came the charge, and by the time the second safety car restart (after Lando Norris’ retirement on lap 53) on lap 60 got going, he was in sixth, but quickly breezed past Valtteri Bottas. His teammate Carlos Sainz was ahead of him, and was trying to pass Sergio Perez. He was able to do so by lap 63, and Leclerc followed suit on the next lap.
Fernando Alonso, on much fresher tyres, was also catching up to the Monegasque. Leclerc though was focused on the battle for second in the championship with Perez, and asked Ferrari: “Think about [the] championship if the positions are like this.” then continued on asking to presumably pass his teammate: “Please think about the championship…every point.” but Sainz had built a 4.5-second gap by the end.
So Ferrari did not let him through, and to say that he wasn’t happy with that would be an understatement. When Laurent Mekies tried to tell him that he did the best he could and that there were ‘other reasons’ why they couldn’t swap the car, he said: “I don’t know what other reason you are talking about! Whatever!” and then further went with a possibly sarcastic radio: “Yeah! Amazing! Mamma mia. Dai!”, when congratulated on doing an ‘amazing job’.
Fans react to Charles Leclerc’s messages asking to pass Carlos Sainz
It’s easy to see where Leclerc’s frustration comes from – this weekend has been full of setbacks. First with the tyre choices in qualifying, and then with the collision with Lando Norris, and then to him what appears as compromising his fight for P2 in the championship, he has certainly not had an easy time of it of late. While Leclerc isn’t happy with the team, a lot of fans aren’t happy with his ‘behaviour’.
On the last lap, Carlos Sainz was almost 4.4 seconds in front of Leclerc, while Fernando Alonso was just over a second behind Leclerc, and Verstappen was only a further five-tenths behind. If Sainz was to give the position to Leclerc, he would either have to brake at a corner and stay ‘slow’ for longer or slow down for a very long amount of time, which could have compromised his and the team’s result.
Some fans think it may be the beginning of his ‘villain era’.
However, some fans did understand Leclerc – as he is fighting for P2 in the championship, and needs all the points he can get. Some are even happier with the fact that he is showing ‘drive’ and has been pretty stiff with the team all weekend.
While Leclerc was definitely not happy with the team in the heat of the moment, there seems to be no animosity between the teammates at all. The two have always seemed to be on good terms – and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change. Leclerc was only upset as they had discussed this scenario before the race, but the plan was changed. Sainz was also not told that Leclerc wanted to pass.
Charles Leclerc goes into Abu Dhabi level on points with Sergio Perez. Carlos Sainz is 6 points behind Lewis Hamilton, who is P5. There is still a lot to play for in the final race of the season for the Ferrari drivers.
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)