Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez have “cleared the air” after their incidents at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The pair came to blows twice within just a few laps at the Red Bull Ring last Sunday, with the Mexican penalised five seconds on both occasions for pushing the Ferrari driver off the track.
That extra time meant Perez, who had dropped down to P10 early on after going into the gravel fighting Lando Norris, finished sixth in his 200th Formula 1 race.
“With Charles, I’m very sorry because it’s not the way I like to race, I’m not that type of driver that races that way,” the Red Bull driver said sheepishly post-race.
“We were in very dirty air, on very hot tyres, very hot brakes and we were just trying to brake as late as possible.
“Obviously I haven’t seen the incidents but I’m very sorry if I ended up affecting his race because Charles is a driver that races very hard but always on the limit and I’m the same. So I’m not happy with myself in that and I just move on.”
In a race where the stewards were criticised from all sides for penalising Norris, both clashes between Perez and Leclerc were seen as more obvious penalties for Checo.
“I was definitely in front at the apex,” Leclerc said. “He had to leave a space on the exit, but he knows he overstepped it a bit. We spoke and he apologised straight away after the race.
“It’s fine. I’m not the type of guy who is staying on it for so long, so the air is cleared and I will go forward.”
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The Monegasque himself was in a very aggressive mood throughout the race at the Red Bull Ring, notably coming close to contact with Daniel Ricciardo on a few occasions.
And he explained the reason for that was the difficulty he had fighting other cars after starting on the hard tyres.
“We were strong all the race with the race pace, but obviously we didn’t have the tyre advantage on the reverse strategy, so it was very difficult to overtake,” he said.
“Every opportunity I could see I was going for it, it didn’t work out today.
“I was pretty angry in the car because obviously, it felt like I had no pace. I know the overtakes were quite optimistic, but on the other hand I had to if I wanted to make it work.”
With both cars starting just outside the top 10, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto was pretty satisfied with Carlos Sainz in P5 and Leclerc P8.
“It was a shame for Charles because those two accidents have penalised his final result. I am pretty sure if he had been able to overtake Perez, his final race result would certainly have been a lot better,” he said.
“The place of Carlos was a good race result. Here in Austria for the characteristics, it is difficult to do more or to do better. Charles could have done better if he had not had, let me say, these difficulties in overtaking Perez.
“It was a good team result, good team spirit. When we asked Charles to swap with Carlos at the end he did it immediately, no discussion, and that is somehow showing really that most drivers understand the importance of the team.”