Charles Leclerc was left frustrated after team-mate Lewis Hamilton failed to hand back a position at the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, although slow communication by the Ferrari Formula 1 team appeared to be the main culprit.
Leclerc was fighting Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda for fifth in the closing stages of the Baku street race until he was passed by McLaren’s Lando Norris. With Leclerc on older hard tyres compared to chasing Hamilton on faster mediums, the Monegasque was ordered to let Hamilton past as the seven-time world champion was in a better position to try and fight the cars ahead.
As is customary in that situation, Hamilton was expected to hand the place back if he was unable to pass Norris, with Leclerc told towards the end of the final lap to prepare for a swap.
“We will swap back at the end of the lap on the main straight if Lewis doesn’t overtake,” Leclerc was told by his race engineer as he entered the final straight. “Lewis will let you by on the main straight.”
Hamilton eventually did slow down, but did so too late for Leclerc to be able to pass him before the finish line, with Leclerc sounding frustrated at his team-mate for not pulling off the swap.
“I don’t really care, it’s for an eight place, so it’s okay, he can enjoy that P8,” Leclerc snapped after his engineer apologised. “It’s just stupid because it’s not fair, but again, I don’t mind, honestly.”
The Ferraris were mired in the midfield in Baku
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Closer inspection suggests Hamilton wasn’t solely to blame for the botched swap, with the Briton only told very late to let his team-mate through. “Let Charles by. He’s one and a half behind you. This is the last lap,” Hamilton’s engineer said.
At that point Hamilton was already hurtling down the main straight, making it difficult for him to slow down sufficiently in a safe manner. But an apologetic Hamilton still shouldered the blame, explaining he was too focused on the cars ahead at that point.
“I was obviously quicker, but Charles was gracious to let me by,” he said. “But I got the message really late on and I was zoned in on the car in front of me, even though there was like a 0.001% chance of passing.
“I did lift on the straight and did actually brake, but we missed it by like four tenths. It was just a misjudgement from myself, so I’ll apologise to Charles. It won’t happen again.”
When Leclerc spoke to the media right after jumping out of the car, there had not been enough time for that conversation with Hamilton or the team to happen yet.
But Leclerc’s biggest frustration was Ferrari’s lack of pace that saw the team finish eighth and ninth, on a day when the McLarens struggled and the likes of Williams and Racing Bulls were able to finish ahead with one of their cars.
“There are rules that we know we’ve got to work with and today maybe those rules were not respected,” Leclerc said, before playing down the incident.
“P8 or P9… I don’t really care. Obviously, if we are fighting for sexier positions, which I hope will be the case, then I hope that we will work in a different way.
“But I don’t think this should be the talking point. Unfortunately, we have been very slow all weekend and that’s where we should focus on.”
Read the full article here