Leclerc will adjust driving if Verstappen’s move goes unpunished

Ferrari Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc says he will adjust his approach to fighting other cars if the stewards stick with their decision not to punish Max Verstappen in Brazil.

After Verstappen pushed Lewis Hamilton off the road at Turn 4 in Interlagos last week, the commissioners kept him behind.

However, Mercedes subsequently filed an appeal, sparked by video evidence from Verstappen’s front-facing camera that was not available to the stewards at the time.

Leclerc says if the stewards don’t sanction Verstappen now, he will adjust his driving behavior, just like he did after his own incident with the Dutchman at the 2019 Austrian GP.

On that occasion, Verstappen went unpunished after forcing his way through the final laps of the race and knocking Leclerc off the road before taking the win.

“You always have to adapt to every situation and every decision the stewards make,” said Leclerc. “As soon as I knew that there would be no penalty for Max in Austria, I came to Silverstone and changed my driving style. So I think it’s a bit the same for every driver, we will always try to drive what we are allowed to do at the limit.

“And I’ll do that if these things are allowed.

“Austria was a slightly different situation again, and after that we were able to drive a little harder, which I think was good for F1, for the show. That situation was a different one. I leave it to the stewards to just” see what they think. ” . “

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB15, collides with Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF90

Photo by: Lorenzo Bellanca / Motorsport Images

Leclerc insisted that he had no preference when it came to the outcome.

“Honestly, I really don’t mind,” he said. “But whatever is allowed, then as a driver I just want to be clear about it. That’s the only thing that matters to me.

“If that is allowed, it will be very difficult to overtake around the outside.

“But yeah, whatever the situation, the decision is, I’ll just adapt my driving style to that, so I’ll be fine with both of them.”

Leclerc’s Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz agreed that the drivers will watch the Verstappen case but was not surprised that the Red Bull driver went unpunished in Brazil.

“A driver takes every opportunity to his advantage,” he said. “Good to know if that wasn’t penalized in the last race, if I’m in a similar position I know I can do something similar.

“I think the car on the inside always has the preference and ability to drive the other car wide, but if the car gets wide on the inside too, we need to sort that out.

“I mean, it’s been a little bit more like that lately. But if you really look back to Austria, for example [this year]then there are a couple of things to check.

“What happened in Austria is very similar in some cases. So yes, I am sure that there will be some discussions in the driver briefing just to clarify a bit.”

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