Leclerc understands Verstappen's frustrations: 'I would have done the same'

During a late safety car, caused by an engine problem at Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, virtually all drivers decided to pit for a new set of soft tires. Verstappen also pitted, but had no set of soft tires available and had to switch to hard tires. At the restart, Leclerc saw his chance to snatch the podium from the Dutchman.

“From the moment I knew Max was on hard tires, I immediately thought: ‘Those are not the ideal tires for the last five laps, especially if you have to push without saving,”  the Monegasque reacted during the press conference after the race.

On the straight during the restart, there even was a minor contact between the two rivals, something Verstappen was quite vocal about over the board radio. Leclerc understands the frustrated reaction of the Red Bull driver.

“If it had been the other way around, I probably would have reacted strongly too,” he responded. “After all, you're fighting for that third place, so you're really trying everything to take it back. I think he also knew that it would be difficult on the track with the tires he was on.

Despite everything, the Ferrari driver has no regrets about the minor incident. “Honestly, I feel no particular way about it. There was nothing crazy about it. I overtook him on the inside, he tried to push me towards the dirty side of the track, but I ultimately had the upper hand due to the speed I carried after his mistake. Then, I tried to get into the slipstream of the McLaren, moved a bit to the left, and he seemed not to want to deviate from his line. We touched a bit, but there was nothing special about it,” said Leclerc.