Charles Leclerc responds to Max Verstappen complaints during their podium battle in the F1 Spanish GP

Charles Leclerc felt that Max Verstappen's complaints after the battle, where he overtook the driver for a podium finish, were understandable, as he would have probably done the same thing. A late race safety car turned the complexion of the Spanish GP on its head when Verstappen, who had a P3 finish in the bag, was forced to pit for fresh hard tires.

The situation was exacerbated when every driver around him was on soft tires and hence would have a much higher grip level compared to him. Max Verstappen was extremely vulnerable at the restart, and he made the situation worse by making a mistake coming out of the last turn. The driver lit up the rear tires, which meant he did not have the same drive coming out of the final corner, and gave Charles Leclerc the opportunity to get alongside him.

While both were running side by side, Charles Leclerc moved a bit to the left, which led to a slight contact with Max Verstappen. The Ferrari driver would complete the overtake, but the contact led to Verstappen coming on the team radio and complaining about the contact.

The complaints were relayed to Charles Leclerc after the race in the FIA press conference, to which the driver said that Max Verstappen's complaints were understandable and he would have probably done the same. He said:

“I mean, I probably would have been very vocal if it was the other way around as well, because you are fighting for third place."

Talking about the overtake on Max Verstappen, he said:

“Honestly, I don’t have any particular feeling about it. There was nothing special. I overtook on the inside. He tried to squeeze me on the dirty side of the track, then I had the upper hand because I had more speed because I had more speed because of the mistake he had done."

He added:

“And then I was trying to take the slipstream of the McLaren, went a tiny bit to the left. He didn’t seem to want to move at all, and we touched a little bit, but there was nothing special.”

Charles Leclerc's full attack mode against Max Verstappen

Talking about the overtake afterwards, Charles Leclerc revealed that he was in full attack mode at the restart, as he knew Max Verstappen was on hard tires, which are not the best in those conditions. Detailing how he went about the move, the driver said:

Well, I mean, from the moment where I knew that Max was on a Hard tyre, I was like, ‘OK, that’s not a great tyre to be on for the last five laps’, especially if there’s no saving or whatsoever."

He added:

“So, I knew that it was a full attack for me and that there was an opportunity to finish on the podium. Max went with a lot of commitment in the last corner, lost the rear on the exit and then I was basically side by side, and I was very happy to take the third place.”

Max Verstappen eventually had a further incident with George Russell later in the race, leading to a 10-second penalty. Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, completed an impressive drive, as he made his way through the field from P7 to P3 in the race.