Charles Leclerc looked to play down his clash teammate Lewis Hamilton on another ultimately disappointing grand prix weekend for Ferrari in China.
While Hamilton did secure his first win for Ferrari with victory in the sprint on Saturday, the grand prix on Sunday was much tougher for both the Brit and Leclerc following minor contact on the opening lap.
Hamilton moved over around the swooping turn one, touching Leclerc’s front wing in the process, with the Monegasque forced to drive the whole 56-lap race with a damaged wing.
Yet oddly, Leclerc had superior pace and Hamilton was instructed to move aside for his teammate halfway through the race. In the end, Leclerc finished fifth with Hamilton a position behind in sixth.
Speaking about the incident, Leclerc said: “Honestly, it’s not Lewis’s fault at all.
“I was around the inside trying to position the car for turn 3, Lewis didn’t know I was there – I didn’t think Lewis would come back to the apex.
“It’s a racing incident, it’s not the first of last time it will happen. Shame it happened between the two red cars.”
Asked why he didn’t change his front wing at the pit-stop, Leclerc replied: “We didn’t want to take the eight seconds to change the wing, didn’t want to take that risk.
“I wanted to maximise the result, I think we did well.”
Oscar Piastri led home a McLaren one-two ahead of Lando Norris, with Mercedes’ George Russell completing the podium in third.
Norris leads the championship by eight points to Max Verstappen, while Leclerc is in fifth and Hamilton in seventh.
The next race is the Japanese Grand Prix (4-6 April).
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