Charles Leclerc has shared his initial thoughts on his controversial clash with Max Verstappen during the closing stages of the Spanish GP.
Following the late Safety Car in the Spanish GP, Charles Leclerc found himself right behind Max Verstappen at the restart.
The Ferrari on scrubbed soft tyres was more than a match for the Red Bull on hards as the cars headed on the straight.
Max Verstappen’s RB21 squirmed on the kerbs, as the Dutchman struggled for grip. Leclerc pulled to the right and passed the reigning world champion, colliding with Red Bull. Safely through, he went on to finish on the podium.
Speaking in Parc Ferme, Leclerc walked through the move, admitting he wanted to move him to the left.
“It was a battle for the track position to get the slipstream of the guys in front. Max wanted to bring me towards the inside where there’s all the rubber, so I didn’t want to go too much there.
“So I was trying to push him to the left. There was a little bit of contact, but fortunately for us, no consequences. But I’m really happy. Obviously yesterday I sacrificed quite a bit qualifying in order to have better tyres for today“.
“I didn’t know whether it would pay off at the end it did,” he continued. “I think before in a normal race driving our position with a safety car, we got lucky and had a podium. So I’m really happy with that.
A high risk move for high stakes reward
When asked about the build up to the move, Leclerc revealed his mindset and questioned why Max Verstappen was on the hard tyres.
“When my engineers told me that Max was going on a new hard for the last day, I don’t know if they had the choice or if they had no choice. I guess they had no choice.”
“I was obviously very optimistic because I knew how bad the hard was.And that’s where I thought that I really need to have a good restart and maybe there’s an opportunity and there was. Just seeing this contact. Woo!Yeah. Yeah, I just wanted to see cheering from that. It all worked out well.”
Leclerc’s thrid place marked the Monegasque’s second consecutive podium. He remains fifth in the standings, 17 points behind George Russell.
