Boss plays down collapsing Leclerc-Sainz relationship

The Charles Leclerc-Carlos Sainz driver combination at Ferrari appears to be ending in acrimony.

Leclerc crossed the chequered flag fourth in Las Vegas P4 - one place behind Williams-bound Sainz, who is being replaced at Ferrari by Lewis Hamilton from 2025.

It was Leclerc, however, who was absolutely furious on Saturday night, unleashing an expletive-laden rant on the radio. He claims Sainz was ordered not to overtake him - and disobeyed.

"Charles, you did your job, thankyou," Leclerc’s engineer told him. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," Leclerc replied. "I did my job, but being nice f*cks me over all the f*cking time. It’s not even being nice, it’s just being respectful.

"I know I need to shut up."

Leclerc, however, left his radio line open and hit out at his engineer’s instruction that he pick up rubber debris on the slowing down lap. "Yeah, yeah. F*cking pick up what the f*ck we want. And the radio is on. I’m sorry."

Later, speaking with reporters, Leclerc implied that Sainz had ignored both a team instruction and an agreement between the drivers. "I don’t want to go into the details of the issue with Carlos. There are some things we said and today it didn’t go like that.

"It’s good for the team, less so for the drivers’ championship where I’m fighting for second place. I know I have to count on myself."

As for Sainz, he seemed to put the situation down to general confusion in the team strategy on Saturday. "Why was he (Leclerc) so angry with you?" a reporter for Sky Italia asked the Spaniard.

"I have agreed not to speak to the media (about this) because every time we say something here we make a mess and I agreed not to say anything," Sainz explained.

"It’s between him and me. I never open the radio or speak to the media because I don’t like it, it’s not a nice thing to do and it’s not necessary. I guess he’s not happy, but I’m also not happy with the way things were handled at the time."

In a typical move for Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur, he played down the controversy, insisting he is "not worried at all" that the relationship between the drivers could now totally collapse.

"It is, I think, the same story again that they should react or not react. They say something during the cool-down lap when they don’t have the full picture.

"We will talk about it and it will not be a problem," the Frenchman added. "We have to avoid fighting."