Leclerc and Vettel still free to race after Brazil clash

Charles Leclerc says that he remains free to race with Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel following talks in the wake of their clash at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Leclerc and Vettel made contact in the closing stages of the race at Interlagos while battling for fourth position, resulting in both cars retiring from the race.

Team principal Mattia Binotto called the incident “silly” and confirmed talks would be held with both drivers over the clash, taking place at Maranello ahead of this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Speaking in Thursday’s FIA press conference, Leclerc said that a full review of the clash took place to gain a better understanding of how it occurred, calling it “unfortunate”.

“The touch was extremely small and it had a big drama after that. So that was a little bit unlucky,” Leclerc said.

“But as a team, I think we probably should try and be a bit less aggressive inbetween each other for these things to not happen again. For the team, it’s not good, for everyone that is supporting us, it’s not good, so we’ll try for it to not happen again.”

However, Leclerc said that no rules of engagement had been put in place between the Ferrari drivers to prevent them from racing each other on-track, nor any deterrents over repeat incidents.

“I think this doesn’t change, we’ll be able to race together,” Leclerc said.

“Obviously Seb and myself are very competitive, we both want to win, but we also need to find the right compromise, we are racing for the same team.

“As I said earlier, we need to be less aggressive towards each other, give a little bit more space for these things to not happen again. Of what I know, it’s the only thing that will happen for the next races, but maybe Mattia can go a bit further into that.

“We called with Seb, and we tried to understand both of our situations. I think probably Seb shouldn’t have gone to the left, and he knows it. And I probably could have done a better job of avoiding him going to the left.

“Both of us have a bit of responsibility, but I think the most important is that everything is clear with Seb now, and we move forward.”