How Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen left Leclerc ‘praying’ at Mexican GP

Charles Leclerc admits that he did not have a fun time at the Mexican Grand Prix start, having found himself in a dash for the chicane which also included Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

When former title rivals Hamilton and Verstappen battle for the same piece of track, fireworks are never far away. On this occasion, Leclerc found himself literally in the middle of their scrap, and said he could only “pray” that they allowed him to emerge unscathed.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen turn Leclerc to prayer

In a chaotic start to the Mexican Grand Prix, polesitter Lando Norris went into Turn 1 four-wide alongside Hamilton, Leclerc and Verstappen on the outside.

Leclerc was sandwiched in between Hamilton and Verstappen, as Verstappen started “bottoming out” on the kerb and straight-lined the chicane, while Leclerc was also sent into the run-off as he banged wheels with Hamilton in the sister Ferrari.

Fortunately for Leclerc, he escaped damage and raced on to a P2 result.

As he appeared in the post-race press conference, it was put to Leclerc that things got very spicy in that run down to Turn 1.

“Yeah. I didn’t enjoy that at all,” he replied.

“I normally quite like fighting, but in this case, being in the middle of Lewis and Max, it’s one of those kinds of situations where, as a driver, you cannot do much, just pray that Max and Lewis will give me enough space just to make the corner.

“And I touched a little bit with Lewis. And then there was very poor grip on the outside, so I had to cut the corner. But luckily for the three of us, it had no consequences.”

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Leclerc was unable to hang with Norris in the McLaren, who went on to win by 30 seconds. Meanwhile, the Monegasque’s second place came under threat from Verstappen, who had somehow maintained formidable performance in his soft tyres as he committed to the one-stop strategy.

A late Virtual Safety Car to cover Carlos Sainz’s retirement took the sting out of the battle, as Leclerc survived the final half-lap under green conditions to cling on to second.

“I was very happy to see the Safety Car coming out in the last two laps. I think without it, there was more chance of Max getting past than me staying in front,” Leclerc admitted.

“Especially with those medium tyres, the feeling was just not there from the beginning to the end. I was definitely tempted by the two stops, but I don’t know. At the end, I just stuck to what I was on, which was the medium tyre, and tried to make it work, and we did.

“It was close. We got a little bit lucky, but I’m proud we made it stick.”

With Hamilton crossing the line P8 – having received a 10-second penalty in a later battle with Verstappen – Ferrari returned to second in the Constructors’ Championship. The Scuderia is just one point ahead of Mercedes with four rounds to go.

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