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Former F1 driver turned pundit Nico Rosberg had a hilarious conversation with Charles Leclerc's manager Nicholas Todt regarding the Monegasque and Carlos Sainz's incident at the 2024 F1 Chinese GP sprint race.
In the sprint race around the Shanghai Circuit, Leclerc was chasing Sainz for fourth place. Since Leclerc was quicker on the back straight, he managed to make a move around the outside. However, Sainz was quite aggressive in defending the position, so much so that he pushed his teammate off track at turn 14 on lap 16.
Even though Leclerc eventually passed Sainz on lap 17, he was furious with the Spaniard for his maneuver. He said on the team radio that the team needed to discuss the incident after the race.
During a post-sprint race briefing conducted by Sky Sport's Ted Kravitz and Nico Rosberg, the latter approached Charles Leclerc's manager Nicholas Todt, and asked whether the heat had cooled down between the two Ferrari drivers. Todt hilariously replied that Leclerc and Sainz kissed each other on the mouth and everything was okay between them.
An X account @formula_dev then reposted a clip of the entire conversation.
"A kiss on the mouth, everything ok," Todt joked.
Nico Rosberg joined in with the joke and asked whether it was a big kiss.
"Big kiss?" Rosberg asked.
Leclerc's manager concluded:
"Big kiss. Happy days, looking forward to qualifying."
Charles Leclerc shares his thoughts on incident with Carlos Sainz at the 2024 F1 Chinese GP sprint race
After the Chinese GP sprint race, Charles Leclerc shared his thoughts on Carlos Sainz's aggressive defencing against him.
Speaking to F1TV, Leclerc initially admitted that he had also crossed the line on certain occasions in the past, and how he and Sainz have always cleared the air around them after any incident.
"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 tires quite a bit and had a good pace at the end."
After the Chinese GP sprint race, Charles Leclerc stands in P3 with 64 points, while Carlos Sainz is in P4 with 59 points in the drivers' championship table.
