Charles Leclerc says he is “more than happy” to race more aggressively in the wake of his incident with Max Verstappen in Austria.
The Monegasque narrowly missed his first Formula 1 win for the second time this season after the Dutchman bumped his way through at Turn 3 with two laps to go.
In the wake of recent penalties for Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo, there was relief after the stewards ruled their battle as a ‘racing incident’.
Although Leclerc does still question one aspect of the decision.
“I don’t have any problems and it was very easy for me to move on. The only thing is that I would like maybe a bit more consistency,” he said on Thursday at Silverstone.
“I feel like there have been some other incidents in the past which have been less big, in a way, and that have been penalised.
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“If we can race that way, I’m more than happy to race that way. I think it’s good for Formula 1. I think it’s what us drivers want,” he continued.
“We just need to know what we can expect from the others, and on that, I think that’s why I would like probably more consistency on the penalties.
“I think obviously at the moment, I felt it was frustrating. Looking back at it, I’m happy that we can now race like this. I just want it to be consistent. If it’s consistent, I’m very happy to be racing like this.”
Verstappen also reiterated his view that the incident only took place because of the Ferrari driver trying to exploit track limits.
“At the end of the day if there was not any run-off you [would] automatically back off because you know that otherwise, you’re going off the track,” he said to RaceFans.
“The only thing is because of the run-off you just stay there and then you hope that if you get forced wide that the guy on the inside gets a penalty. That’s why you do it.
“I don’t think it’s correct. If it would happen in turn four you would not stay around the outside.”
