Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur says that Charles Leclerc’s expletive-laden radio message after the Las Vegas Grand Prix is not an issue, as the Monegasque vented that “being nice fucks me over”.
Leclerc looked on course to gather an overcut on team-mate Carlos Sainz during the final round of stops, as the Spaniard pleaded his case on the radio for an earlier pitstop.
Sainz called in at the end of lap 28, a lap after entering the pit entry lane and then bailing as Ferrari’s pitcrew was not ready for him. Leclerc made his stop three laps later, and emerged just ahead of Sainz.
But Sainz ignored a call on the radio not to overtake the exiting Leclerc, and duly made the move stick at Turn 4 to capture fourth – later becoming third when the two passed Max Verstappen.
Watch: Why Verstappen’s 2024 Title Success is His Greatest Yet – F1 Las Vegas GP Analysis
Leclerc was incensed by this and, at the end of the race, made his feelings clear over the radio to engineer Bryan Bozzi.
Leclerc’s post-race radio
Bozzi: Pick up, please.
Leclerc: Yes, whatever you want, as always.
BB: Charles, you did your job. Okay, thank you.
CL: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I did my job but being nice fucks me over all the fucking time, all the fucking time. It’s not even being nice, it’s just being respectful.
BB: Charles…
CL: I know I need to shut up but at one point it’s always the same, so, oh my fucking god.
BB: Okay, but anyway, you did the right thing for the team.
BB: And pick up please.
CL: Yeah, yeah, fucking pick up what the fuck we want. Shit, shit, shit…and the radio is on. I’m sorry, that was on me.
CL: And my bad for the first stint, I was shit driving as well.
Vasseur said that the incident was under discussion, but did not feel that it would be an issue between his two drivers. He explained that although Ferrari tried not to lose time by having the drivers fight, Leclerc was also having to bring his tyres in slowly.
He said that Leclerc’s diatribe was likely down to not having the full picture, and that it was a difficult situation to avoid – and added that Sainz’s earlier angling for a pitstop had been denied due to the gap to traffic.
“I’m not worried at all. I think, again, it’s always the same story that they have to make comments or they don’t have to make comments,” Vasseur said.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal and General Manager, Scuderia Ferrari
Photo by: Ferrari
“They are doing comments on the [slow-down] lap and they don’t have always the full picture. We will discuss and it won’t be an issue.
“We have to avoid to fight, but at this stage I think that opening the stint, you have to be on the management side, and Carlos was already at lap three or four of the stints.
“I think it’s more the fact that the situation was really difficult for everybody, but we will discuss tonight. It won’t be an issue.
“When were discussing with Carlos for the pitstop, I was explaining that he was in the shadow of Lawson, Tsunoda perhaps, and he wanted to pit, we wanted to keep him on track.
“We were discussing like this and on top we had to swap and it was a bit of chaos, but when they are into the car they have their own vision of the race.”
