George Russell was unimpressed with Charles Leclerc’s defending at the British GP (Photo: Getty)
Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur has called out George Russell after the F1 star slammed Charles Leclerc’s ‘questionable’ defending during the British Grand Prix.
Russell drove a solid race at Silverstone on Sunday to come home fifth, though he was heavily out-shadowed by fellow Brits Lando Norris and Sir Lewis Hamilton who both finished on the podium.
During the grand prix, the Mercedes man found himself battling Leclerc but initially struggled to get past despite his superior pace and although he did get ahead eventually he took exception to the way the Ferrari star defended his position.
Over the team radio, the 25-year-old exclaimed: ‘If that’s not moving under braking I don’t know what is.’
Speaking to Sky Sports post-race, he doubled down on his comments: ‘Some questionable defending from Charles at points. Just couldn’t get past.
‘It was a little bit frustrating, just didn’t quite have the edge to get past him in the corners I needed. But in the end it didn’t really change my race.
‘I think had I got past him earlier, I would have probably pitted even earlier, still being caught out by the safety car.’
But Vasseur saw things very differently, claiming that Leclerc did nothing wrong and hitting back at Russell but criticising his own driving style which has come under fire at times this season.
‘Yeah, I can show you some action of the beginning of the season,’ the French team principal quipped before adding: ‘He [Russell] did also good ones. That’s life.’
Ultimately Mercedes and Russell had the last laugh, scoring a good number of points to give them a good buffer in the battle for second against Aston Martin and Ferrari.
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Russell meanwhile had moved ahead of Leclerc in the standings and is now sixth after the Monegasque could only muster ninth at Silverstone with teammate Carlos Sainz, who also got flak for his driving, coming home 10th.
Vasseur added: ‘I’m not [happy]. Starting from P4 and P5 we had the feeling after quali that we could have done a much better job than this.
‘We can’t be happy finishing P9 and P10, but now we need to have a deep look on the weekend, not just on the race.’
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Russell wasn’t happy with Leclerc’s driving at the British Grand Prix.
