Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were reportedly summoned to the principal’s office in the wake of their Las Vegas Grand Prix falling out, Fred Vasseur making it clear he ‘demands loyal collaboration’ in the interest of Ferrari.
Leclerc and Sainz were at odds in Sin City on Saturday night as the Spaniard seemingly ignoring team orders to grab the final podium position behind the race-winning Mercedes team-mates.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz summoned to the principal’s office
Pitting three laps after Sainz in the second round of stops at the high degradation 50-lap race, Leclerc was told by his race engineer Bryan Bozzi that he’d come out ahead of his team-mate and that Sainz wouldn’t challenge him.
“Carlos has been told to not overtake, but it’s really close, he might just be in front,” said Bozzi. “He has been told to not put you under pressure.”
But challenged and overtaken by Sainz into Turn 4, Leclerc hit back: “Maybe try in Spanish!”
Crossing the line in fourth place, just over two seconds down on Sainz who secured the final position on the podium, Leclerc launched into a swearing F-bomb rant.
He dropped the F-bomb no fewer than six times before realising the radio was still on in a “s**t, s**t, s**t, the radio is on” comment before apologising.
Sainz also wasn’t happy, annoyed with Ferrari’s pit stop bungle as well as having been told earlier in the race to make way for Leclerc.
But while team boss Vasseur brushed it off by saying they’ll discuss it and after that there “won’t be an issue”, it seems behind the scenes the Ferrari team principal has taken a harder stance.
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According to Quotidiano Sportivo, Vasseur ‘immediately summoned Leclerc and Sainz’ to the principal’s office with a pointed message of ‘here no one is asking you to be thick-skinned friends, you still have two weekends to spend together and Ferrari expects, nay, demands loyal collaboration.
‘Because at stake is the Constructors‘ Championship and to give up any remaining hopes in the name of individual whims would be intolerable.’
Ferrari trail McLaren by 24 points in the teams’ standings as the Scuderia seek their first championship title since 2008.
But while Leclerc said in the immediate aftermath that he “will be thinking about myself only” in the final two races with Sainz as his team-mate, the publication claims Vasseur got his message through to his drivers.
‘To the best of my knowledge, Carletto and Carlitos have promised to play nice,’ wrote Leo Turrini.
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