Leclerc explains Ferrari radio calls to hurry Vettel

Charles Leclerc has provided clarification as to why he asked Ferrari to give his Formula 1 teammate Sebastian Vettel a hurry up during French Grand Prix qualifying.

Leclerc, who had been quicker than Vettel throughout qualifying, was heard twice asking his team to get the German to speed up and create a bigger gap between the two drivers.

The Monegasque went on to qualify third and revealed after the session that he was concerned he would not have sufficient time to begin a lap due to being immediately behind Vettel on track.

Asked if he had been compromised by Vettel, Leclerc insisted: “No, not at all.

"The only thing is that I think twice, I can’t remember when exactly, twice we were very tight on time through the finish line.

“So that is why I was asking the team to say to Seb just push because I would be very tight. That was the only reason.

“But no, he didn’t compromise my qualifying.”

Leclerc ended up 0.646s adrift of polesitter Lewis Hamilton and said he was happy with his qualifying performance after working to rectify recent errors he has made.

“I was completely aware that my weak points in the last few grands prix was putting my car in the right window in Q3,” Leclerc explained.

“So I really worked hard for that, and I was very happy to see that there were improvements this weekend on that.

“On that I’m very happy. The gap is still quite big, so we need to work, and hopefully tomorrow it will be an exciting race.

“It’s going to be difficult [to fight Mercedes] because their race pace on Friday was very, very, very strong,” he added. “I think a good start will be very important, and then we’ll see what happens.

“But obviously if I’m in front at the start, then it will be easier, but it’s not going to be easy.”