Instantly after the dash race Leclerc mentioned he wished 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 in a while Saturday in Shanghai, Leclerc said he had spoken to his fellow Ferrari driver to clear the air.
“Sure, it’s all executed and it’s all good. No issues,” Leclerc mentioned.
“I’m not going to reveal all the main points of our discussions as a result of it’s at all times personal discussions and it ought to stay personal however the discussions went nicely and we’re all nice.”
Nevertheless, 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 fact 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
Picture by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Regardless of the incident, each drivers seem keen to maneuver on after the frantic Chinese language GP dash race and give attention to Sunday’s grand prix, through 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 a few of the different vehicles, and I did not complain.
“It is only a matter of clearly protecting as a lot house as doable to your team-mate, which I’ll at all times attempt to do and I’ve at all times executed in my profession.
“It is simply, yeah, I used to be in a nasty spot there after the automobile injury from Fernando, the ground was utterly damaged, plenty of grime on my tyres, so it is not like I may have executed 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.