After getting out of his Ferrari at the end of the 2024 Formula 1 Mexican GP race, Charles Leclerc met his teammate Carlos Sainz who had just won the race but instead of congratulating him the Monegasque continued on almost ignoring him as demonstrated by the reaction shocked by the Spaniard. An unusually unsporting reaction from the driver from Monte Carlo which however seems to be dictated more by the management of the race by the Maranello team wall.
The Ferrari in the 2024 Formula 1 Mexican GP race he achieved his second consecutive victory and fueled his world championship dreams by moving significantly closer to McLaren in the Constructors’ standings, now only 29 points away. But at the end of the race wine from Carlos Sainz not everyone in the Maranello team appeared happy with the verdict issued by the Mexico City track. In fact, a very long nose at the end of the race for Charles Leclerc arrived in third position at the checkered flag, also taking home the additional point for having set the fastest lap of the race.
And what happened after the finish line highlights how his bad mood doesn’t seem to be dictated by what happened in the final laps (when he risked hitting the wall when he lost his SF-24 in the last bend that enters the main straight of the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit, then recovering it shortly before it came into contact with the barriers, however, he was overtaken at that very moment by Lando Norris). Already the silence on the radio during the cooldown lap after the checkered flag led to the assumption that there had been something in Ferrari’s management of the race that had annoyed him. But then it was above all his unusually unsportsmanlike behavior towards his teammate once he got out of his car to definitively confirm that the anger was not due to that mistake which could have cost much more dearly.
After having parked his car in the area reserved for drivers who got on the podium the 27-year-old from Monte Carlo crossed paths with teammate Carlos Sainz, winner of the racewho congratulated him with a pat on the shoulder and approached him to share the joy of his success. But, evidently enraged, instead of stopping or congratulating his teammate on the success, he continued on, effectively snubbing the Madrilenian who was surprised and, evidently, disappointed by the behavior of the driver with whom he will share the garage until the end of the season and together with whom he chases the dream of the constructors’ championship. And his face, while Leclerc ignores him and quickly walks away, says it all.
Sainz celebrates in Mexico and fuels Ferrari’s dreams: Norris 2nd, Leclerc 3rd, Verstappen penalized
It is therefore inevitable to ask why did Charles Leclerc have that unsporting reaction towards Carlos Sainz given that the Spaniard deserved the victory at the end of a weekend that saw him perform best since free practice on Friday. Probably not going down the Monegasque more than the Spaniard’s starting defense (who moved to his left, leaving the inside to Verstappen, blocking the way for his teammate who was trying to slip on the outside), were the repeated requests to manage the tires better (thereby lowering one’s pace) which came over the radio from the wall when he was in second position chasing his teammate. Hypotheses, however, not confirmed by the Ferrari driver himself in the post-race TV interviews in which he instead congratulated Sainz for the victory and made no mention of the disagreements with the wall of the Maranello team.
Source: www.fanpage.it
