SPIELBERG, Austria — Charles Leclerc said he and Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz cannot afford to squabble between themselves if they want to take the fight to Max Verstappen at Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.
Leclerc finished second to Verstappen in Saturday’s sprint race, but never looked as though he was in a position to fight the Red Bull for the win. On the first lap he struggled to hold off Sainz at Turn 1 and then had to repass his teammate at Turn 4 to hold on to second position.
The battle between the Ferrari drivers continued over the following laps while Verstappen continued to extend his lead.
When asked if the two Ferrari drivers needed to cooperate more to take the fight to Red Bull on Sunday, he said: “We cannot afford what we did today.”
He added: “My start was pretty good. And then I lost a place to Carlos and then I regained the place at turn three but I was not able to catch Max in the end.
“We lost a little bit of time [fighting] but Max managed his pace, so we will never know if we could have caught him. I really don’t know.” Sainz said he ultimately settled for third place as the extra point on offer for finishing one place higher in the sprint was not worth risking damage.
“There was very little to gain or lose [by the fighting],” Sainz said. “We are talking about one point but Max looked very in control at the front.”
Source: www.espn.com