Charles Leclerc sorry for radio reaction during Singapore GP
"That won't happen again in the future," says Leclerc of the way he questioned Ferrari over team radio after losing lead and win
Thursday 26 September 2019 19:03, UK
Charles Leclerc says his angry radio messages were too excessive in the Singapore GP, as he vowed to learn lessons from last weekend's race heading into Sochi.
Leclerc lost his cool during several rounds of conversation with his Ferrari race engineer in last Sunday's race after he lost the lead of the race to team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who benefitted from a powerful 'undercut' at his pit stop the lap before the leap into the lead.
And on the 21-year-old's arrival in Sochi, Leclerc told reporters: "I believe my reaction was well over what it should be. That shows I've still got a lot to learn.
"In this situation, there was absolutely no need to be like this. The team has done the right thing. We finished first and second, we wouldn't have finished first and second with another strategy, and that's what matters the most.
"On that, I definitely have a lot to learn and a lot to improve. But that won't happen again in the future."
Asked if he could still express heat-out-the-moment frustrations to himself in the cockpit rather than over the radio channel, Leclerc said: "That's definitely the goal!
"In the car it's always very difficult. There's a lot of adrenaline, I wake up in the morning thinking about victory and I go to sleep thinking about victory. So sometimes it might be hard, but I need to control myself more in these situations and just shut up instead of speaking on the radio."
Leclerc praises Vettel
Leclerc was not told of Vettel's earlier stop, but the winner of Spa and Monza says the team acted in a normal way.
"I don't think [they could have done anything differently] because relooking at the strategy I think nobody expected the tyre gap and, also, Seb has done an amazing out lap. I don't think anybody expected him to pass in front.
"If Seb was seven seconds behind and he will try the undercut, there's no need for me to know. I just think we were not expecting him to pass in front of me."
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