Charles Leclerc shows Toto Wolff true colours in late fight with George Russell

Charles Leclerc and George Russell fought hard at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as Ferrari gave everything to overhaul Mercedes for second place in the F1 constructors’ championship

Toto Wolff heaped praise upon Charles Leclerc for keeping things clean in his late fight with George Russell at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Monegasque finished the race second ahead of his Mercedes rival. But it was Russell’s team who got the last laugh as they managed to do just enough to avoid being overtaken by constructors’ championship rivals Ferrari in the dying stages.

At the beginning of the race, the teams were separated by just four points. Furthermore, Russell had to ensure that Leclerc did not surpass him by more than one position, since both Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz were no longer in the running for the major points.

In a final desperate attempt, Leclerc attempted to use Sergio Perez, but the British driver held onto the Ferrari’s gearbox. Aware of his five-second time penalty, he let the Mexican pass and made an effort to slow Russell down enough that, after accounting for it, the Red Bull racer would have split the two of them.

Even though his astute reasoning did not work out, it was still worth a shot given the alternatives. Additionally, Wolff, the principal of the Mercedes team, expressed satisfaction with Leclerc’s lack of aggression in his desperation.

The Austrian told reporters, “Perez wasn’t really on the radar for quite some time.” “We were aware that they most likely couldn’t hold onto the lead and then kick him out ten or eleven seconds later.

“At the time, we focused solely on ourselves. We said, “Let’s extract George’s fastest race,” keeping in mind that you had to handle the surfaces. If not, you’re plummeting from a precipice.

We were aware that we needed to catch up to Perez in five seconds, but we didn’t think Leclerc could close these gaps and possibly keep us behind. He had the opportunity to apply the handbrake in the final sector, but he chose not to. That, in my opinion, demonstrates a driver’s character.”

Ferrari team manager Frederic Vasseur, meanwhile, shot down the notion that his driver was “too fair.” “I don’t think so,” he said. “You could imagine that [we] could block Russell, but you also have to make sure that Perez is in the way of Russell and you.”

The time it takes to block Russell is only a few hundred seconds. While we did our best to give Perez the DRS to help as much as possible when we let him go, I’m not a big fan of this.