“Sainz crossed the line a little bit.” Ferrari driver Leclerc criticized his teammate after the sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc said his teammate Carlos Sainz was too aggressive in one of the corners on the 17th lap of the sprint race at the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix.

At turn nine, Sainz pushed Leclerc off the track. “He [Сайнс] fights me more than the others,” Leclerc said over the radio after the incident.

– Yes, I think he crossed the line a little. But to be honest, this happened to me too. When this happens, we quickly deal with the situation in order to defuse the atmosphere and not get stuck. I have no doubt that this time it will be the same. But yes, he crossed the line a little…

We were in different positions, my tires were fresher, I was going at a good pace. It’s a pity that we couldn’t catch up with Perez. We could have been third, but now we will focus on qualifying. This could be a turning point. I have made progress in this component, now I need to prove it,” Leclerc said on Sky Sports.

— I had a good start and had a good chance of winning. Everyone was driving at maximum speed. “I apologize if I really went out of line,” said Sainz.

According to the results of the sprint race, Leclerc took fourth place, Sainz was fifth. The victory was won by the Dutch driver of the Red Bull team Max Verstappen.

China is hosting a Formula 1 event for the first time since 2019. The weekend continues on Saturday with qualifying races.