Leclerc has no complaints over Verstappen’s defending: ‘That’s how I like to fight’

Charles Leclerc said he “would have done the exactly the same” as Max Verstappen’s aggressive defending at the start of the US Grand Prix sprint race.

The Ferrari started on the front row of the grid and challenged Verstappen on the run to turn one, with the Red Bull driver moving aggressively to cover the inside line with Leclerc almost off the track.

Verstappen’s eager defending allowed him to retain the lead as Leclerc was passed by Lewis Hamilton on the exit of the first corner. Hamilton remained ahead of Leclerc over the remainder of the sprint race to finish second, with Leclerc taking third place behind him and sprint race winner Verstappen.

“There was an opportunity, there was a gap and I tried,” Leclerc said. “But obviously then it was tight and I lost the position to Lewis but they were a bit stronger today in race pace. We expected them stronger and they were, so we need to work to try and understand what we can do better to be a step ahead tomorrow.

Despite Verstappen’s robust defence of his position, Leclerc says he has no problems with his rivals tactics.

“To be honest, I would have done exactly the same if I was in his position,” he admitted.

“It’s on the limit, but as I’ve always said in the past, that’s the way I like to fight. So this today didn’t play in my way, but that’s fine. It’s part of racing and I’m happy with it.”

Heading into Sunday’s Grand Prix, where Leclerc will start from pole position, the Ferrari driver believes that team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr completing the race on soft tyres will give his team vital data to decide their strategy.

“At the end, we have quite a lot of data to analyse having the two cars on two different strategies,” he explained.

“I think this will be a bit of a help for us because we know how the soft tyre is behaving for tomorrow so I hope we can take advantage of that and hopefully we can win tomorrow.”

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