Immediately after the sprint race, Leclerc said he wanted to speak to teammate Sainz about his defensive driving “beyond the limits” when the two appeared to clash at Turn 14.
Speaking after Saturday’s Grand Prix qualifying in Shanghai, Leclerc said he had spoken to his fellow Ferrari driver to clear things up.
“Yes, everything is done and everything is fine. No problem,” Leclerc said.
“I’m not going to divulge all the details of our discussions because they are still private discussions and it should be kept private but the discussions went well and we are all OK.”
However, during his own press briefing, Sainz appeared to contradict Leclerc while accusing the new sprint race weekend schedule of preventing them from having a thorough discussion.
“The reality is that we haven’t managed to talk, because obviously with this format, it’s not like we have time to talk a lot,” Sainz said. “We probably will tonight.”
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Despite the incident, both drivers appear eager to move on from the frenetic Chinese GP sprint race and focus on Sunday’s grand prix, in which Leclerc starts sixth and Sainz seventh.
“There’s nothing spicy about it. There is nothing to say or do,” Sainz said. “I think we ran very hard in the sprint. We drove really hard with some of the other cars and I didn’t complain.
“It’s just about keeping as much space as possible for your teammate, which is something I will always try to do and have always done in my career.
“It’s just that, yes, I was in a bad situation there after the damage to the car by Fernando, the floor was completely broken, there was a lot of dirt on my tires, so it’s not Not like I could have done much.”
Moments before the Turn 14 trouble spot between the two Ferraris, which was noted by FIA stewards but not investigated, Sainz was fighting with Fernando Alonso and the two men made light contact at turn 7 and again at turn 9.
The latter incident earned the Aston Martin driver a 10-second penalty and three penalty points after the sprint race.
Immediately after the sprint race, Leclerc said he wanted to speak to teammate Sainz about his defensive driving “beyond the limits” when the two appeared to clash at Turn 14.
Speaking after Saturday’s Grand Prix qualifying in Shanghai, Leclerc said he had spoken to his fellow Ferrari driver to clear things up.
“Yes, everything is done and everything is fine. No problem,” Leclerc said.
“I’m not going to divulge all the details of our discussions because they are still private discussions and it should be kept private but the discussions went well and we are all OK.”
However, during his own press briefing, Sainz appeared to contradict Leclerc while accusing the new sprint race weekend schedule of preventing them from having a thorough discussion.
“The reality is that we haven’t managed to talk, because obviously with this format, it’s not like we have time to talk a lot,” Sainz said. “We probably will tonight.”
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Despite the incident, both drivers appear eager to move on from the frenetic Chinese GP sprint race and focus on Sunday’s grand prix, in which Leclerc starts sixth and Sainz seventh.
“There’s nothing spicy about it. There is nothing to say or do,” Sainz said. “I think we ran very hard in the sprint. We drove really hard with some of the other cars and I didn’t complain.
“It’s just about keeping as much space as possible for your teammate, which is something I will always try to do and have always done in my career.
“It’s just that, yes, I was in a bad situation there after the damage to the car by Fernando, the floor was completely broken, there was a lot of dirt on my tires, so it’s not Not like I could have done much.”
Moments before the Turn 14 trouble spot between the two Ferraris, which was noted by FIA stewards but not investigated, Sainz was fighting with Fernando Alonso and the two men made light contact at turn 7 and again at turn 9.
The latter incident earned the Aston Martin driver a 10-second penalty and three penalty points after the sprint race.