Leclerc says he will adapt his driving if Verstappen move is allowed

Charles Leclerc says he will transmute his driving in response to the stewards’ decisions if Max Verstappen’s move on Lewis Hamilton in Brazil goes unpunished.

Mercedes has asked for a right to review the move on lap 48 that saw Hamilton struggle to pass virtually the outside into Turn 4, but forced to take evasive whoopee as Verstappen braked too late on the inside and both drivers went off track. While Leclerc insists he doesn’t mind whether there is a retrospective penalty or not, he says he’ll retread to the visualization if the stewards deem it a legal defense.

“In Austria (in 2019) it was a bit of a variegated situation then and without that we could race a bit harder — which I think was good for F1, for the show,” Leclerc said. “This situation was flipside one. I’ll leave it to the stewards to just see what they think.

“You unchangingly need to transmute to every visualization the stewards are doing. As soon as I knew it wasn’t a penalty for Max in Austria I came to Silverstone and I reverted my driving, so I think that’s a bit the same for every driver. We unchangingly try to race at the limit of what we’re unliable to do, and that is what I will do in specimen these things are allowed.”

While Leclerc says he doesn’t want to get involved in whether a penalty would be right or wrong, he acknowledges overtaking virtually the outside could wilt plane increasingly rare if such a move is allowed.

“Honestly, I really don’t mind. And this time I’m not saying it to not get involved! Whatever is allowed, I just want it to be well-spoken as a suburbanite — that’s the only thing that matters to me. You’re right that if this is unliable then overtaking virtually the outside is going to be very difficult, but whatever the visualization is then I’ll just transmute my driving to it. I’m fine with both.”

Leclerc believes there is a simple solution at many corners, as he says gravel would act as a deterrent for the defending suburbanite trying to restriction as late as possible.

“On the incident itself, I just think that with gravel everything would be a lot clearer and it would probably be nicer for those type of situations. Then on the appeal, the only thing I can say is that I understand it a little bit in a way considering they are fighting for veritably every point and for a championship at the end. So both parts are trying to do the weightier possible to try and proceeds points in every possible way; but if there was gravel there wouldn’t be any of these problems and it would unquestionably be better.”