Toto Wolff sees Charles Leclerc’s true colours after what F1 star did to George Russell
Charles Leclerc and George Russell battled it out in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as Ferrari did everything they could to beat Mercedes into second place in the F1 Constructors’ Championship.
Toto Wolff has praised Charles Leclerc for keeping clean during his final battle with George Russell at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Monegasque took second place, ahead of its rival Mercedes. Russell’s team had the last laugh in the closing stages, doing just enough to keep pace with construction rivals Ferrari.
At the start of the contest, only four points separated the teams. And with Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz competing for the top points, it was down to Russell to prevent Leclerc from beating him by more than a point.
As Leclerc tried to engage Sergio Perez on the final lap, the Brit caught the Ferrari’s gearbox. Knowing there was a five-second penalty, he allowed the Mexican to pass and tried to slow Russell down enough for the Red Bull driver to split the two.
His clever idea didn’t work, but it’s worth a try among other options. And Mercedes team boss Wolff was pleased that Leclerc was not too aggressive despite his desperation.
“Perez has been off the radar for a while,” the Austrian told reporters. “We knew if he was in the front row, 10 or 11 seconds behind us, he wouldn’t be able to stop once.
“At that point, we were just focusing on ourselves. Bearing in mind that we had to keep the page under control, we said, “Let’s run the fastest race for George.” Otherwise you will fall off the cliff. “We knew we had to be within five seconds of Perez, but Leclerc was so far away that we didn’t think he would be able to close the gap and leave us behind. In the end, he managed to apply the handbrake. the last sector. does not exist in . I think it shows the personality of the driver.”
Meanwhile, Ferrari team boss Frederik Wasser dismissed suggestions his rivals were “too loyal”. He said, “I don’t think so. You might figure you can block Russell, but then you have to make sure you have Perez between you. “If you want to stop Russell, it takes a few hundred seconds. I don’t really like that. We did our best to help Perez as much as possible by putting him in DRS.”
