Just two weeks after being told to hold station behind his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, in Australia, Charles Leclerc chose to ignore the orders given to him during Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.

As Vettel struggled on his mediums in the closing stages of the Melbourne race, Leclerc was closing at a rapid rate of knots, clearly faster than the German.

"Should I stay behind Sebastian, yes or no?" asked the youngster. "Yes, and back off to have some margin," came the reply. "OK," agreed Leclerc.

"When Seb pitted, and put the medium tyres on, he didn't have the grip he was expecting," explained Binotto at the time. He was attacked by Verstappen, having been in the position to hold his position on track, so we decided to bring the car home.

"He was managing the tyres to the end," he added. "I think, ten laps to the end, we decided not to take any risks and hold position, to bring the cars home and score points.

"Sebastian was managing his pace because of poor grip, and bringing the car home," he insisted. "Charles did a great second stint, but with ten laps to go, there was no reason to take a risk, they were not fighting for the first position."

Five laps into Sunday's race, hard on Vettel's heels, Leclerc advised the team that he was quicker than his teammate once again.

"Copy... stay there for two laps, stay there for two laps," the youngster was told.

However, as his teammate appeared to struggle with his SF90, and had a poor exit from the final corner at the end of the fifth lap, Leclerc prepared to make his move, subsequently passing Vettel on the pits straight, courtesy of DRS and a strong tailwind.

"I was just letting them know," he subsequently told reporters. "I think I had an answer, saying; 'ok, stay like this for two laps', but on the next straight I had the opportunity to go for it, so I went for it and it was a successful pass. From then I was just quicker, so then I did my race."

Indeed he did.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Toffeecup0, 14/04/2019 9:04

"Good for Charles for ignoring team orders I understood they were banned vettel should not always get his way must be a German thing just like the Schumacher days if u get the chance Charles go for it "

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2. Posted by Ted Baker, 03/04/2019 10:43

"Vettel can`t "hack it" now, he was blown out of the water by Ricciardo and there seems to be a bit of "deja vu" here. It was predicted that this would happen when the pressure gets to him he has always seemed to be vulnerable, and being a multi world champion takes the hunger away. It does`nt seem to be his ability that is the issue, the psychology of the sport is now coming in to play. I hope he has got a good Sports Psychologist to help him get out of this rut as his troubles at Red Bull and the disaster last year must be having an impact. The more the "hungry" Charles "blows him into the weeds", as in Bahrain, the worse it will affect his head.
I am not a Ferrari fan(after the Arrivebene debacle) but Charles is absolutely no doubt an amazing talent and I really hope he and Mattia can turn Ferrari around for the sake of the sport and the fans, and take the fight to Mercedes and Red Bull......with the amazing speed of the SF90 so far so good. "

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3. Posted by Spindoctor, 03/04/2019 9:38

"Do as you would be done by springs to mind vis-a-vis Mr Vettel.
Lucky Ferrari. They have what looks like the fastest car (again) and at least one driver capable of beating Mercedes. Seb should make an excellent "wing-man", and without the pressure of having to win, might stop making unforced errors...."

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4. Posted by TokyoAussie, 03/04/2019 3:28

"Good. Vettel can't complain. He's ignored his fair share of team orders."

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5. Posted by Greg, 02/04/2019 16:56

"Good for Charles.he is now 4 points clear of SV. If he gets ahead again whT will Ferrari do. Its not good to stop the young gun. Ask Hamilton ans Alonso :-)"

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Leclerc ignored team orders in Bahrain

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