Leclerc and Binotto deny tension after British F1 GP mess up
Jul.4 - Charles Leclerc denies he was rebuked and gagged by Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto immediately after the chequered flag at Sunday's British GP.
Obviously furious with Ferrari's strategy calls that ultimately left teammate Carlos Sainz to win his first Formula 1 race, Leclerc was on the receiving end of Binotto's wagging finger before he spoke to the media.
"He wanted to cheer me up, that's all," Leclerc, whose points deficit to Max Verstappen only diminished to 43 points amid his Red Bull rival's own problems on Sunday, said of the Binotto dressing-down.
Binotto insisted there was "nothing to sort out internally".
"It was simply to tell him 'I understand your disappointment, but you did a fantastic race today'. Being happy is difficult, but staying calm and positive is important," the Italian added.
Leclerc responded: "We will have to look at things overall.
"As for me, I can only talk about the race and I feel like I lost too much time. But that's just my opinion.
"I don't want all the attention on my disappointing performance anyway. My teammate had his first Formula 1 race win and this is a special occasion," he added.
"But I can't hide my disappointment."
When asked if he felt it was a missed opportunity to close the gap to Verstappen more significantly, Leclerc admitted: "It's pretty obvious."
Verstappen struggled to finish just seventh with a "broken" car, declaring that there was "nothing left" of parts of his floor when he inspected it in parc ferme.
As for the racing, Sunday was declared one of the brightest spots in modern F1 history, with Red Bull's Sergio Perez saying it was clear evidence that the new regulations are working.
The big winners of the weekend, however, were not only Alex Albon who was cleared after precautionary hospital checks, but also Guanyu Zhou, who says the once-controversial Halo innovation "saved me today".
Formula 2 driver Roy Nissany was also thanking Halo after the support race on Sunday for protecting his head from the launched car of Dennis Hauger.
Mercedes' George Russell says there is still work to be done on safety.
"I went over to see if he was ok," he said after the horrifying Zhou crash.
"He was stuck there - he couldn't do anything. I think we need to think about how to make sure the car doesn't get stuck in such narrow places with the driver unable to get out."
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Leclerc is to nice, Binotto is to stupid.
Leclerc was stupid to damage his front wing in turn 3, otherwise he would have won easily. It's very kind of Ferrari to not takeaway Sainz maiden win. The team could be much stronger now Sainz has digested his first ever win.
Leclerc was faster even with a damaged wing, so to make sure Binotta thought; lets keep him out on the wrong tyres. No wonder Charles was mad, in his own nice way.
The point is that the red team could easily have stacked their drivers, changed tires on both, and then issued a 'hold position' order. They left 6 points on the table. Stupid call.
Re the post race Curly and LEC talk.. One of the SKYguys, I think Button, said it best. "Yeah, my friends often wag their finger at me when they are congratulating me."
i think all the binotto/ferrari bashing is unwarranted - this time anyways
had they pitted chuck piggy could've stayed out given he had much fresher tires and it wasn't a foregone conclusion he could've made the position back
ferrari did what was best for the team and split strategy and they won the gp because of it and gave sade a much needed and hard fought for maiden victory
despite his talent chucks dressing down was called for - it never helps to be too critical of the team especially ferrari
schuey wasn't and won 7 titles - nando was and only won 2 despite his immense talent
happy for sade but it is telling that chuck was a smidge faster with a damaged wing - it's unfortunate cos he's a much more likable guy
can't remember nor imagine another driver following instructions from the team like he did when fighting for his first win and i foresee a long career in red
best gp of the year so far - perhaps f1 should take the liberty to throw out at least 1 safety car per race - it does make for some good watching
on a serious note though - perhaps all three tire compounds should be used to complete at least 1 lap - such a rule might even make the monaco gp interesting
It was somewhere in the waning stages of the race, the Saint was on Chuck's arse ready to overtake, with Perez and Lucille dialing up the pressure, and the Ferrari 'engineer' tells the Saint to give Chuck some breathing room.
I just laughed. The Saint's garbled response could have been interpreted a number of ways. I'm going to go with: "like Hell!", though it sounded an awful lot like: "F.... orget it".
lol
lol
tbf it was kinda crazy what they were trying to organize just before the restart and yet sade still had the presence of mind to sugar coat his response
maybe someone more knowledgeable knows if chuck could've backed off in s1 and let the safety car go giving him s2 & 3 at racing speed to warm the tires knowing he couldn't be overtaken?