02/04/2019
NEWS STORY
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.