Ferrari put Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in a room to settle their row over the Mexico City race.
Charles Leclerc has issued his verdict after Ferrari put him and Lewis Hamilton into a room for clear-the-air talks. It came after days of drama following the Mexico City Grand Prix which ended badly for the Scuderia despite them being the quickest team on track all weekend. Hamilton qualified on pole with Leclerc third on the grid, and they were running first and second by the first corner. That should have been enough to win on a track where overtaking is tough, but it all fell apart when Leclerc went for the lead.
The Monegasque went off track as he tried to muscle past and was given a penalty for it. Max Verstappen also got past Hamilton in the melee and was then poised to take advantage when Leclerc served his punishment, inheriting the lead and converting it into victory.
Hamilton demanded “serious talks” over the outcome and accused Leclerc of “working against” him and fighting harder against him than he would any other driver on the grid. Leclerc defended his right to go for the lead of the race, while team principal Frederic Vasseur was less than impressed that a win had been thrown away.
Those talks Hamilton wanted could not take place immediately as Leclerc returned to Europe after the Mexico race for the birth of his daughter. But their boss made sure it happened as soon as he turned up in Sao Paulo on Thursday.
Leclerc then watched as Dino Beganovic drove his car in first practice, before getting into it himself for FP2. Speaking afterwards, he wasn’t willing to offer much detail but did say he thinks “everything is settled” now between them.
He said in the TV pen: “Obviously, there have been a lot of things, probably too many things, said in the last week. We’ve spoken, I think everything is settled and I’m looking forward to the rest of the weekend now.”
Vasseur, also speaking to the media on Friday, was similarly unwilling to go into detail about what was said behind closed doors. He did, though, make it clear what he expects to see from his drivers when going battle on track going forward.
He said: “The guidelines are always the same. They are two competitors with a fighting spirit for sure, but they need to have respect for each other. But, mainly and firstly, they need to respect the brand, the team, the people working at home, the people working on track. I think we are putting a lot of effort on this and the message was clear and will stay clear.
“For sure, in this situation, we failed collectively because we were one and two and we didn’t win the race at the end. That means that it’s clear that we failed and we have to react.
“The conclusion of the meeting yesterday evening was clear that it was a clear reminder that the Ferrari is coming first, is coming first for the brand, for the employees, for the Tifosi, and this we have to keep it in mind.”
As for this weekend, Leclerc wants his Ferrari team to figure out why his car was not performing in FP2 heading into the business end of the action in Brazil. He said: “FP2 was very tricky, actually – one of the worst feelings I’ve had this year in the car, so there’s plenty to work on. It didn’t feel quite right.
“I’ve got some ideas and we will change the car quite significantly and see how it goes. I hope we can do a step forward because, even though I missed FP1, I don’t think there was much performance in that. It’s just that the raw pace wasn’t great today.”