Leclerc thanks Verstappen for overtaking lessons

Charles Leclerc put the lessons learned at the Austrian GP to great use at Silverstone as he got his elbows out as his battle with Max Verstappen was renewed.

Last time out in Austria, Leclerc lost the victory when Verstappen barged past him to take the lead.

In doing so the Dutchman didn’t leave any room and in fact gave Leclerc a shove for good measure. The stewards declared it racing.

Leclerc lost that battle but learned valuable lessons, lessons he put to good use at Sunday’s British Grand Prix.

Racing Verstappen wheel-to-wheel for the bulk of the 52 laps, Leclerc and Verstappen traded blows and positions.

THIS is what F1 is all about #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/NhiMScS93q

— iGP Manager (@iGPManager) July 14, 2019

They even raced one another down the pit lane…

LAP 14/52: Drama 😵

Both Leclerc and Verstappen pit and it's the Dutchman who squeezes out in front of the Ferrari man at the exit!#BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/7Ii1UG13mN

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 14, 2019

“I think the last race was an eye-opener for me, really showing how far we can go and I think it is great for F1 to fight on the limit that way,” Leclerc enthused.

“I’m very happy that this race has gone like this.”

The Ferrari driver eventually took the chequered flag in third place, helped onto the podium by his team-mate Sebastian Vettel who crashed into Verstappen when he was fighting the Red Bull driver.

That meant that Leclerc, who had fallen from third to sixth when Ferrari were slow to pit him under a Safety Car, recovered to third.

“It is probably the race I have enjoyed the most in my F1 career,” he said.

“Great to finish third, but today was a difficult day.

“During the first two stints we weren’t where we wanted to be, on the hard we were very strong but unfortunately with the Safety Car we lost a few positions which wasn’t great for us.

“But yeah very happy to finish third and for the battles out on track.”

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