Breaking news
Formula 1 Russian GP
Leclerc says "trust is still here" with Vettel
Charles Leclerc says he retains full faith in his Formula 1 teammate Sebastian Vettel and stresses they "need to trust each other" following the controversy at Russian Grand Prix.
Valentin Khorounzhiy Scott Mitchell
Published: Sep 29, 2019, 2:56 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Vettel, who qualified third behind pole-sitter Leclerc, had slipstreamed the Monegasque at the start and got past him with little resistance at Turn 2, taking over in the lead of the race.
Conversations between Leclerc and the team indicated this was part of a pre-race agreement, and Vettel was ordered to hand the lead back to Leclerc, but the German defied the instructions, beginning to build a gap after indicating that Leclerc hadn't been close enough.
Read Also:
- Team radio in full: Ferrari’s Sochi team orders controversy
- Russian GP: Hamilton snatches win amid Ferrari dramas
Ferrari got Leclerc back into the lead by pitting Vettel, who then suffered a failure that led to a virtual safety car that was instrumental in Leclerc finishing only third behind Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.
Asked after the race by Motorsport.com whether he still had faith in Vettel to honour pre-race agreements following his apparent team order refusal in the opening stint, Leclerc said: "Yeah, I think the trust doesn't change and I think we need to trust each other, Seb and myself.
"I think it's hugely important for the benefit of the team in some situation, to know that you can count on the other car and vice versa.
"So, yeah, I think it's very important, but yes, the trust is still here. "
Before the swap had happened in the pitstop phase, Leclerc repeatedly stressed to Ferrari on the radio that he "respected" the agreement, and asked the team to manage the situation.
"I think everything was respected," he explained after the race.
"At the start, I obviously went to the left to give Seb the slipstream, I knew he would overtake, and anyway we knew that, then we just had to do the swap back and we did it at the pitstop later on in the race."
Pressed on whether the agreement was for him to keep to the left side on the run-up to Turn 2 and not fight Vettel into the right-hander, he said: "If there was Lewis and Seb side by side, I obviously had to advantage Seb and not Lewis, which is normal. So, that was what was agreed."
Leclerc subsequently offered his explanation for why Vettel may have ignored the orders, describing it as a "quite tricky situation".
"There was a safety car straight away, so then it was quite difficult, I tried to stay as close as I possibly could, for two or three laps, but then it was very difficult to follow - especially first and second sector, the tyres overheated, and then I dropped back a little bit.
"But then I was, as I said on the radio, I had 100 percent trust in the team to do it themselves as it was agreed before the race, and that's what they did at the pitstop. "
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Magnussen slams "bullshit" Russian GP penalty
Next article Vettel believes he honoured Ferrari pre-race agreement
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Valentin Khorounzhiy
WTCR's April opener cancelled due to coronavirus
WTCR
WTCR
Hungaroring
Mar 13, 2020
WTCR's April opener cancelled due to coronavirus
Australian GP issues update on nine F1 paddock coronavirus tests
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Mar 12, 2020
Australian GP issues update on nine F1 paddock coronavirus tests
Motorsport Games unveils 15 disciplines for 2020
General
General Mar 11, 2020
Motorsport Games unveils 15 disciplines for 2020
More from
Sebastian Vettel
Why Daniel Ricciardo would consider a comeback at Le Mans
WEC
WEC 14 d
Why Daniel Ricciardo would consider a comeback at Le Mans
Sebastian Vettel reveals why BMW didn't want him – but Red Bull did
Formula 1
Formula 1 15 d
Sebastian Vettel reveals why BMW didn't want him – but Red Bull did
More from
Ferrari
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 d
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
What the Brazilian GP revealed about F1's ability to cope with rain
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
2 d
What the Brazilian GP revealed about F1's ability to cope with rain
Latest news
Sebastien Bourdais hopes latest WEC success will remind teams of his value
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
1 min
Sebastien Bourdais hopes latest WEC success will remind teams of his value
"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 h
"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027
Iker Lecuona felt significant differences between Ducati's GP25 and GP26
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
2 h
Iker Lecuona felt significant differences between Ducati's GP25 and GP26
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe