"Maybe try in Spanish": Charles Leclerc furious with Carlos Sainz for refusing team orders
Carlos Sainz appeared to have refused Ferrari's team orders during the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix. The Spaniard was asked not to "overtake" his teammate, Charles Leclerc, which he did not pay heed to. Reacting to the move, Leclerc hit out at Sainz with a linguistic jibe.
The Las Vegas Strip Circuit is hosting the 22nd race of the 2024 F1 season, and the third and final race in the United States of the calendar. In the race, Max Verstappen is vying for his fourth consecutive F1 title, whereas Ferrari is fighting against McLaren for the Constructors' Championship.
The team had a field day on Saturday where they qualified in P2 and P4. With the cushion they had over McLaren, the Scarlet Ferrari drivers wanted to close the gap in the championship. However, their intra-team rivalry came to the forefront once again.
Both Sainz and Leclerc are out of the Driver's Championship contention. Despite that, they were not ready to yield track positions, and as a result, kept their wheel-to-wheel battle intact during the 50-lap race.
Sainz, who was actively vocal to take the strategy into his own hands, asked for pit stops repeatedly, before he was allowed to do so. Once he came out, Ferrari asked him not to attack his teammate as they raced.
Reiterating this, Leclerc's race engineer Bryan Bozzi told the #16 driver,
"Carlos was told to not overtake, he has been told to not put you under pressure so just take care of your tires."
However, the #55 driver was not in the mood to listen. He ended up attacking his teammate and passed him two laps later. This triggered a response from Leclerc. He said on the radio,
"Maybe try in Spanish."
As of Lap 45 of 50, Carlos Sainz was running in P3, while Charles Leclerc was a place down in P4.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz reduced their gap to McLaren
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc managed to have yet another fine Sunday as they finished the race in 3-4. With this, the Prancing Horse reduced their Constructors' Championship gap to McLaren.
Prior to the race, McLaren led the Championship with 593 points, followed by Ferrari with 557 points. However, after the Las Vegas GP, Ferrari trimmed their gap and reached 584 points.
McLaren, on the other hand, had a P6, and P7 finish after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri failed to make amends in Nevada this time around. They picked 15 points here (one extra point for the fastest lap) and took their tally to 608 points.
With two races and a sprint left for this season, it will be interesting to see how the season finale at Abu Dhabi turns out. Max Verstappen, meanwhile, sealed his fourth F1 title with a P5 finish over Norris.