Sebastian Vettel Opens Up on Discussions After Singapore Grand Prix Drama

Published 09/27/2019, 9:34 AM EDT

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Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc had a massive discussion in the wake of the former’s Singapore GP victory. Leclerc felt that he was pushed aside in favour of his Ferrari teammate and he let rip on the radio.

In an ideal world, Charles Leclerc should have been the surefire winner, as he was the pole sitter. He even backed up the field to negate Lewis Hamilton’s chances of undercutting him. Unfortunately for LeClerc, the undercut did take place, but it was from his own teammate, Sebastian Vettel.

Naturally, the Monegasque driver was fuming over team radio as Vettel banished his demons to grab his first race win in over a year. Afterwards, Vettel spoke about the awkward situation and managed to smooth things over.

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“I spoke with him, I didn’t speak much about the race,” Vettel said in the press conference. “I don’t think the undercut story will become nasty, answering all your questions.”

“I don’t think there is much to elaborate, we did the race, it was clear what happened. Charles is challenging myself, I’m challenging him.”

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“There’s only one space on the top step, if you fight for the victory, ultimately you’re not as pleased as the other guy if one takes first and one takes second, that’s the nature of our sport.”

After some introspection, Charles Leclerc confessed that he was wrong to blow up over the radio messages. On the other end of the spectrum, Sebastian Vettel understood where his team-mate was coming from.

“I don’t think that you should interpret too much into these messages because we are driving when we are opening the radio and I think if you would do the same exercise with any footballer or even a golfer, you’d be surprised,” he said.

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Vettel defended his partner, saying that he was simply upset at being the driver behind. If the situation was reversed, Sebastian Vettel himself would have been equally upset.

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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