The Ferrari driver held onto P3 for the few remaining laps, whereas issues went from dangerous to worse for Verstappen as he was penalised after colliding with Russell and obtained a 10-second time penalty for inflicting a collision, dropping him to tenth.
“The Security Automobile helped us,” Leclerc later summarised. “Mainly, Max had no tyres besides the onerous tyre, which put him in a foul scenario. We took benefit of it.
“On the contact, I don’t suppose there’s something particular. Max did a mistake out of the final nook, I went facet by facet. He tried to carry me onto the soiled facet of the observe, as I’d have executed, which is regular.
“Then as soon as I had the higher hand when it comes to pace, I attempted to take the slipstream a bit bit. On the primary transfer, I used to be prepared to maneuver a tiny bit. On the second transfer, he wasn’t. That’s the distinction of [whether we make] contact or not. On the finish of the day that’s racing – I don’t suppose there’s any massive drawback in it.”
