'Personal' relationship with Leclerc still good – Sainz

Nov.29 (GMM) Carlos Sainz insists he still has a “very, very good” personal relationship with his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

After the chequered flag in Las Vegas, Leclerc was furious as he left his radio line open and unleashed a foul-mouthed tirade after Sainz apparently passed him against team orders.

Days later in Qatar, Leclerc says he has cleared the air with the Spaniard, who is being replaced at Ferrari by Lewis Hamilton for 2025.

“I don’t want to go back to what happened in Vegas,” Leclerc insisted. “These are the last two races of the season and we need to do absolutely everything in order to get that constructors’ championship.

“That’s all that matters.”

Leclerc did insist that he had a “really good” relationship with Sainz throughout their time together at Ferrari – and Sainz returned that sentiment in conversation with Spanish journalists.

“He is one of the people that I am glad to have met and worked with,” Sainz said.

“Nobody was happy with the result of that race. I think one of the main reasons is that we just weren’t fast enough,” he explained.

And, like Leclerc, he confirmed that “internal” conversations have restored peace.

“I completely agree,” said Sainz. “It always happens to us. We go through some misunderstandings that, in the heat of the moment, we obviously express very frankly and we get very frustrated, but after a couple of days, you can see everything with a bit more perspective.”

However, the rumours on social media are that there have been several separate moments of recent acrimony between the drivers, as Sainz prepares to leave the team.

“I still see sometimes on social media that people don’t believe us and say it’s all hype and honestly it disappoints me,” Sainz said. “Sometimes people can’t understand that we have a professional relationship and in that professional relationship we go through ups and downs.

“But then we also have a personal relationship, and as much as the professional one goes through ups and downs, the personal one – I can tell you – has always been very, very good,” he added.

“He is one of those guys that I know that in the future, when I am not in Formula 1, I will look back and say I am glad to have met him, to have trained with him and to be able to have many good memories with him.

“In these four years at Ferrari I have enjoyed every moment with him, even the most difficult ones, as hard as they have been. I am pretty sure that in 20 or 30 years I will laugh about them and look back with pride at what we have achieved together,” Sainz concluded.