Carlos Sainz recalls Charles Leclerc battles: “We always managed to find a solution”
· Yahoo Sports
Carlos Sainz says he has "good memories" of battling Charles Leclerc at Ferrari while offering his perspective on his former Formula 1 team-mate’s fight with Lewis Hamilton in the Mexican Grand Prix.
The Ferrari drivers had a fierce battle for the lead on the opening lap at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, with Leclerc attacking Hamilton through the opening corners. The sequence ended when Leclerc attempted to pass around the outside of his team-mate at Turn 4, with both drivers running off the track.
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Leclerc emerged ahead of Hamilton, who also lost a position to Max Verstappen. The subsequent five-second penalty for the Monegasque opened the door for the Red Bull driver to take victory.
While Hamilton agreed with suggestions that Leclerc races him and former Ferrari team-mates harder than other rivals, Sainz viewed that as a natural consequence of fighting for victory in F1.
"Honestly, I have relatively good memories with my time with Charles and the fights we had," the Spaniard said in Brazil.
"It is true that when you're fighting for wins, there's always more pressure, more things down the line. So you become naturally a bit more selfish than when you are fighting in the midfield for a P8 or a P9.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24"So it's more difficult maybe to follow exactly the ideal situation that the team would like you to follow, because there's a win down the line."
Hamilton admitted on Thursday that he was "still frustrated" by what happened in Mexico. Reflecting on his own battles with Leclerc, Sainz cited Monza and Las Vegas as examples of their close on-track battles, but said they would speak afterwards to resolve any disagreement.
"There were wins on the line back then. But I think I always respected Charles. He always respected me. We never had contacts or anything like this. We just had strong fights. I think you remember Monza, Vegas. There were plenty of hot moments," he said.
Sainz said the greater difficulties came from the pressure surrounding Ferrari rather than his relationship with Leclerc, including abuse he said he received from some of Leclerc’s fans.
"I think what was difficult more was the fan base, more the PR and the fan base was really ignited back then. It was very polarised between Charles and me. I remember suffering a bit from the very hardcore fans of Charles, insulting or wishing me bad.
"Maybe some Italian media also saying that I was not being enough of a number two when I needed to be and vice versa whenever Charles had to do it."
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari"So it's more the pressure surrounding Ferrari that involves Ferrari than the actual issues that I had with Charles, which were always resolved that same night when we called each other in a more cold-head way. We always managed to find a solution on the way forward."
Sainz said tensions between team-mates are inevitable when two competitive drivers are fighting for victories, and that such situations are nothing new in F1.
"It's always been there in Formula 1 teams," he said. "I cannot remember a F1 team that has had two good drivers fighting at the front that haven't had issues when fighting for wins. You can choose whether to have a number two as a second driver or you can have two good drivers that will create those issues. But you cannot have one without the other, in my opinion, and you will never have one without the other."
"I don't know, maybe in Ferrari it gets a bit exacerbated with everything that involves Ferrari, but I cannot remember a moment where this hasn't happened. It happened in Mercedes, it happened in McLaren last few years, it happened in Ferrari, it happened in McLaren in 2006, 2007, 2008.
"So I don't know when it hasn't happened. It is part of Formula 1 and if you are a team principal and you know you are going to have two great drivers, you are always going to have that issue. I don't think you can ever calm those two guys 100% down and expect them not to go for a move for a race win."
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