Leclerc criticizes Russell: 'He's usually loud on the radio'

George Russell may have celebrated a return to the podium for Mercedes at the Hungarian Grand Prix, but the race wasn’t without its moments of frustration. Chief among them was an incident involvingCharless Leclerc, whose on-track behavior drew the ire of the Brit. Leclerc, in turn, remarked that Russell tends to be particularly vocal over the radio.

During the race, Russell reported that Leclerc was moving under braking — a maneuver considered illegal under Formula 1 regulations. While Leclerc firmly defended his actions, Russell insisted the Ferrari driver veered into the braking zone, prompting an investigation by the stewards. Leclerc was ultimately handed a five-second time penalty, though it had no bearing on the final race result.

Leclerc: ‘Russell often cries out on the radio’

Leclerc defended himself afterwards and said he purposely drove on the edge, but within the boundaries of his own driving style. " Well, I knew I was on the limit, I don't have much opinion about it, I felt like I moved before braking, and then I brake obviously angling my car towards the ape,x which is normally what I do," said the Monegasque in conversation with the media, including GPblog. That his driving behavior led to discontent with Russell does not surprise him. " But I can imagine George being quite vocal on the radio. That's normally the case."

Asked about the penalty, Leclerc stated that he didn't have much to say about it. "I don't mind. Especially on a race like this, if there was a safety car on the race and I would have taken a five-second penalty, I probably would have been a lot more frustrated, but it wasn't the case," the Ferrari driver concluded.

Russell sticks to his criticism of Leclerc

Russell, on his part, stood by his view on the incident. " You know, when you're coming down the straight at 330 and you sort of dive into the corner, you're right on the limit of your car's grip. You can't just brake and turn to avoid somebody because you're already at the limit of that grip." According to him, Leclerc's actions were on the verge of what is acceptable in high-speed wheel-to-wheel racing.

"So, I made my intentions really clear, diving to the inside, and he moved after he had committed to braking, which is not allowed in the rules for that reason. So, he did it once. I wasn't happy about it. Second time, I was like, well, I'm going to just send it down the inside now, and he did it again, and we made contact. I was glad to get by."

The stewards determined that Leclerc moved twice: first on the straight and then when braking, which nearly led to a collision. Because there was no contact and Russell could still overtake, it was decided not to impose a heavier penalty.

Russell also commented on the speed of Leclerc, who particularly fell back in the last stint. According to him, there was something off about the Ferrari driver's car. Leclerc had already indicated that there might be a chassis issue. That weaker final phase meant that Russell overtook him for the final podium place of the race.