Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc had no interest in getting into a blame game after the pair collided in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Fighting to reach the podium, the two Ferrari drivers would take each other out on the approach to Turn 4 moments after the Monegasque had moved ahead of his teammate into Senna S.
Currently, the incident is under investigation by the stewards and Vettel wasn’t interested in getting into details on what took place.
“Not much to talk through,” he claimed. “[I] had a better exit out of the chicane (Senna S) and then tried to pass.”
As for Leclerc’s side of the story… “I don’t know, we need probably to analyse the situation better,” he said.
“From my side, I overtook in Turn 1 and then in Turn 3, I had to close because I was aware Sebastian would try again.
“He did, he went around the outside, where there was little space but I did leave him some.
“Then towards the end of the straight he started to squeeze me a little bit to the inside and we were very close. Everything happened very quick.
“As soon as he went to the inside we touched and then had a puncture.”
Vettel does have a history of moving across when alongside, memorably colliding with Red Bull teammate Mark Webber in Turkey back in 2010.
On this occasion, he insisted: “No I was going straight.”
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The incident in Sao Paulo could have the potential to reignite some tensions which built up following earlier incidents this season, but neither driver appeared interested in that.
“I haven’t seen Seb yet but I’m pretty sure we are mature enough to put that behind us. Both of us are extremely sorry for the team that this is the end result,” Charles commented.
“For the future, we will put that behind us and continue to work together.”
Vettel agreed, adding: “I think it’s a shame for the team, we could have got a better result
“We had a big fight, I thought I was faster than him but I don’t know why we touched, it’s a shame.”
Despite closing up on Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton as a result of the first Safety Car, the four-time F1 champion played down any chances of victory.
“No, I think Max was out of reach, I think he was also on fresher tyres so I don’t think the win was up for grabs,” he concluded.
