"He went a bit over the limit": Charles Leclerc on Carlos Sainz pushing him off the track during F1 Chinese GP sprint

Charles Leclerc feels Carlos Sainz crossed a line when the Spaniard pushed him off the track during the F1 Chinese GP sprint. He did, however, add that something like this has been discussed by the two in the past, and they've moved on from it.

During the F1 Chinese GP sprint, Leclerc, Sainz, and Sergio Perez were battling it out to gain an upper hand and overtake Fernando Alonso in P3. During one of the exchanges, Charles got a run on his teammate on the long straight and had the outside line into the braking point.

It was at this point that Carlos Sainz pushed Charles Leclerc off the track to keep his position. Leclerc would eventually take the position away from the Spaniard, but it still bothered him, as he mentioned it on the team radio.

Talking to F1TV afterward, Charles Leclerc said Carlos Sainz had gone too far.

"I think so, but to be honest, I have crossed the line also myself in the past. When this happens, normally we have a discussion, we clear the air, which we went through in the past already and it went really well. And I have no worries that it will be the case again this weekend," Leclerc said.

He added:

"Today, he went a bit over the limit in the contact between us two - being in a different situation because I saved the tyres quite a bit and had a good pace at the end."

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Charles Leclerc feels Sergio Perez could have been challenged

Charles Leclerc felt that Sergio Perez could have been challenged if not for the aggressive maneuver from his teammate Carlos Sainz, and that he could have finished in P3. The Ferrari driver was within touching distance of the Mexican when he was pushed off the track by Sainz and hence a P3 was not possible. Talking about the lost opportunity to go after Perez, Leclerc said:

"It was a shame that we lost the gap to Perez, and couldn't go and take him. It's like this at the end. It could have been P3, but in the end P4, one point, but it's like this. We will focus on this afternoon, and this will be the game changer in having a good qualifying, which hasn't been the case for me in the last few races."

He added:

"I have done a lot of work, and I am very confident that I've taken a step forward, but it's up to me to prove it. Yesterday, SQ1 and SQ2 was really good, and I need to reproduce that this afternoon."

The race was, however, the first time Leclerc finished ahead of his teammate this season. It will be interesting to see how the dynamics are in qualifying.