Charles Leclerc makes Carlos Sainz vow after Las Vegas GP drama

Charles Leclerc has vowed to work together with Carlos Sainz following a disagreement between the pair in Las Vegas.

Leclerc uncharacteristically fumed over the team radio after Vegas, criticising both Ferrari and Sainz while suggesting he would no longer help the team.

Charles Leclerc rows back on Ferrari and Carlos Sainz criticism

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Leclerc took issue with Sainz attacking him in Nevada after Leclerc’s own radio engineer had assured him that he would be under no pressure from his team-mate.

With Sainz finishing ahead of Leclerc, and costing the Monégasque points in his race to finish P2 in the Drivers’ standings, Leclerc took to the radio to voice his anger.

“I did my job but being nice f**ks me over all the f**king time, all the f**king time. It’s not even being nice, it’s just being respectful,” Leclerc said on the radio. “I know I need to shut up but at one points it’s always the same, so… oh my f**king god.”

Speaking in the media pen in the heat of the moment, Leclerc said he would no longer help the team but a week later, his attitude appears to have changed again.

“Nothing special,” he told the media in Qatar when asked if he and Sainz had spoken. “But in the end, I don’t even need that.

“As I said, we have a really good relationship with Carlos and sometimes I’ve overstepped the line and sometimes he has and then it only requires discussion between us two, and we look ourselves in the eye, and we know each other since a very long time now. We understand each other very, very quickly.

“So I have no doubt sometimes we need these kind of things to reset a little bit and I have no doubt, working together in the last two races, there won’t be any problems or whatsoever, because at the end, it’s a chance for both of us to try and win that Constructors’.

“We know that an opportunity like that doesn’t happen very often, and we’ve got to do everything on both of our sides in order to try and win that and we need each other in order to win that, because it’s not going to be easy this weekend. By working as a team, we can maybe achieve that.”

More from PlanetF1.com

F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

With Sainz departing Ferrari at the end of the year, Leclerc was asked if he would miss the Spaniard but Leclerc said even at Williams, he would not be too far away.

“I’ve said it many times, on one hand, it’s not like I’m going miss him like crazy, because he will still be in the paddock, maybe 20 metres away,” Leclerc explained.

“So as I said before, Carlos isn’t my girlfriend either, and so I really like Carlos, but I’m sure we will still spend a lot of time together.

“And as I was saying earlier, we have a really good relationship that will stay there even after our relationship within Ferrari so we won’t be working together anymore, but we’ll still spend time together and he is a good person and we get along very, very well.”

Read next: Mick Schumacher triggers Mercedes exit as Toto Wolff responds