Vettel and Leclerc play down Melbourne team orders

Income in the exhausts of Sebastian Vettel during the second half of the Australian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc had received orders not to attack the German driver in front of him, the two teammates finally finishing 4th and 5th, a good distance from the Mercedes of the winner Valtteri Bottas. 

Mattia Binotto, team principal Ferrari, had blown hot and cold on the question of stable instructions during the winter. The new boss of the Reds had thus affirmed that priority would be given to Vettel in certain special cases, notably at the start of the season, while ensuring that his drivers had the same chances.  

In Bahrain where the F1 took up residence this week, the subject naturally came up in conversations but the two Maranello members brushed it aside. 

« From the team's point of view, the situation was quite clear, said Vettel. We couldn't do better than 4th and 5th and you never have the complete vision of what is happening around. At this stage of the race, we both had to manage our mount in one way or another and we still had to save fuel to reach the finish calmly. 

This is not the first time that the pit wall has asked to freeze the positions. It's understandable. I don't have the impression that the stable instructions were particularly strong. I can also understand that you are making a big deal out of it, but internally things have been transparent. ». 

Asked at the FIA ​​press conference to know if the disappointment had been hard to digest, Leclerc played the good student in his response. 

« There is no frustration on my side, retorted the Monegasque. It was the first race of course but on a collective level, there was nothing to gain. Whether Seb finished 4th and me 5th or the other way around, it made no difference to the number of points scored by the team. It's normal that they don't want to take any risks seeing us struggle on the track. I understood the decision ». 

The romantic defenders of the competitive spirit a little less so.