Sebastian Vettel

Vettel lifts lid on Leclerc relationship after Brazil crash

Matthew Scott Saturday 30 November 2019 11:00

Sebastian Vettel says reports of rivalry brewing between himself and Ferrari team-mate have been overhyped following the pairs collision at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Tensions have simmered between Leclerc and Vettel through much of the season, but bubbled over in Brazil as their wheels touched and caused significant damage, forcing both to retire.

It left Ferrari stewing over a first double DNF since the Singapore GP in 2017, but the team have said that clear-the-air talks have been held between team boss Mattia Binotto and the drivers.

Amid instances of refusal to follow team orders and now an on-track collision, Vettel says his relationship with the Monegasque remains strong.

He said: "Obviously it's unfortunate what happened and we want to make sure it doesn't happen again. That's clear. That's the most important.

"The key for me is that we get along, we don't have a problem with each other. I know that outside tries to hype this a little bit, but actually there's nothing to worry from the inside.

"I think the lesson is that if we race each other, then we need to give each other more room to make sure that we don't touch, because obviously it was a very little touch but the touch led to a poor result.

"I don't think there's so much more to understand. We're both not happy with the outcome. Obviously we didn't finish the race, so I'm happy with that front.

"We're both grown up and we spoke to each other, we spoke with Mattia.

"I think we've tried to go through as much as we can and we tried to move on. And it's clear that we want to make sure that this doesn't happen to us again."