Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc have played down the significance of Ferrari issuing a team order in Australia.
In what was already a frustrating weekend that saw the Italian team well off the pace, the race ended with Leclerc quickly closing in on his teammate only to be told to hold station until the end.
With team boss Mattia Binotto having previously suggested Vettel would be “prioritised” this year, it led to unhappiness from fans who blasted the decision to not allow the Monegasque to challenge the German.
“Well I think from the team’s point of view it was quite clear that fourth and fifth was the best result we could get,” Vettel was quoted by ESPN.
“Obviously you never see completely what’s going on at that point in the race, both of us had to manage quite a lot to make it to the chequered flag.
“We still had some fuel to save, so it’s not the first time… and obviously it depends if you have anybody in front or behind, but it’s not the first time that people have asked to freeze the race there and make sure you bring home the points.
“I don’t think this was a strong team order. I can see for you and people there’s quite a lot of excitement in this kind of things, maybe there’s a story, but internally it was pretty straightforward.”
Leclerc agreed, adding: “There was no frustration on my side. Obviously, it was the first race, but on the team side I don’t think there was anything to gain from me being fourth and Seb fifth, or me fifth and Seb fourth.
“It was exactly the same amount of points for the team, so it’s understandable that they didn’t want us to take the risk by fighting each other and risk losing more points.”
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The 21-year-old’s arrival at Ferrari continues to be of great interest, despite a so-so first weekend which saw the types of errors that might be expected at key moments.
Even so, Vettel insists he still faces a challenge from Leclerc to remain the defacto lead driver at Maranello.
“Yeah, I think if you want to win you always have to justify it, you always have to prove that ultimately you can go faster than the others,” he said.
“I think it’s part of competition, it’s part of all of our lives that we grew up with. I think everyone — maybe some less or some more, but every one of us has a huge ambition to go faster than the other guy around.
“He’s a very young and talented kid so I’m sure he will leave his mark this year and in the next years to come.”