Wolff praises Leclerc for being an athlete with Russell in Abu Dhabi Formula 1

The struggle for second place in the constructors’ championship Between Mercedes and Ferrari it was decided at the end of the season. In a desperate but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to thwart the Brackley team, Charles Leclerc allowed a punished Sergio Perez to pass him to try and prevent George Russell from taking the podium.

Monaco wanted to give the Mexican a five-second penalty for touching Lando Norris. He passed him and opened a gap for Russell, who was running fourth at the time, to stay far enough away So that he does not inherit third place.

mercedes head, Toto WolfLeclerc praised him Sportsmanship And do not exceed the limit in Abu Dhabi by slowing down to delay Russell. The Austrian explained:We came into this weekend a bit on the wrong foot See Ferrari’s performance in the last few races.

“We have two guys competing at the front and I thought George’s driving was impeccable and he obviously managed to manage the gaps at the end. The battle with Ferrari is a massive battle between two great brands.” A team we respect a lot, and in the end Charles led like a true athlete“.

Wolff admitted that Perez did not enter into Mercedes’ plan until the last minute, and added that Leclerc He showed his “character” by not resorting to underhanded tactics with Russell. “For a long time, Perez wasn’t really on the radar,” Wolff continued. “We just focused on ourselves and said: ‘Let’s get George the fastest start.'”

He continued: “So we knew we had to be less than five seconds behind Perez. But Leclerc was so far ahead that we didn’t think he could manage those gaps to keep us back.” In the end, he could have used the handbrake in the last sector, but he didn’t. He continued: “I think this shows the character of the driver.”

Leclerc, who started from second position, revealed this He tried to take Perez with him and use DRS to get him away from the W14 that was chasing him. Before giving up his position on the track to the Red Bull driver. When asked by Motorsport.com to explain his thinking, the Ferrari driver revealed: “I made the decision a few laps ago, as soon as I heard about the five-second penalty.”

“So I was constantly asking what the difference was between George and Chico. Then they told me that Chico had passed George, so I knew he was behind me and that Clearly his best chance was to reach the DRS and attempt to escape As much as possible from George.

He concluded, “I knew that my engineer and I argued a lot and I also told him that this was my plan. But it didn’t work.”