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Vettel blunt on Leclerc crash: I was going straight

Photo: © LAT Images
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Vettel blunt on Leclerc crash: I was going straight

Who was at fault?

Sebastian Vettel dismissed the notion that he had tried to run Charles Leclerc off the track in their collision at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

At a safety car restart prompted by Valtteri Bottas' retirement, Leclerc had the run on Vettel with fresher tyres, but the German fought back on the back straight, with the aid of DRS.

As he looked to shut the door on his teammate, their wheels touched, causing a dramatic failure on Leclerc's front right and leaving Vettel with a puncture.

Although Leclerc's reaction to the incident was measured, he was clear in his belief that Vettel had looked to cover him off on the straight.

"I overtook in Turn 1. Then on the run to Turn 4 I closed the door," Leclerc said of the incident. "I was aware he was on the outside, I left a little space but enough for him.

"And then I think he tried to squeeze me a little bit towards the inside. And we were very close so we touched straightaway and I had a puncture."

Asked if he felt he had turned too much into Leclerc, Vettel said: "No. I was going straight.

"I had a better run out of the chicane, tried to pass, and then we touched."

Both Vettel and Leclerc were summoned to Maranello by team principal Mattia Binotto, who banned both drivers from the post-race debrief in Sao Paulo.

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