It was an eventful Spanish Grand Prix for the Ferrari drivers after Lewis Hamilton was told to let Charles Leclerc past in the early stages of the race.
Hamilton made a good start off the line but was told by his team to let Leclerc through after seeing he was struggling badly with his tyres.
Former Mercedes teammate and 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg described Hamilton’s Spanish GP as ‘horrible’ after being told to concede position, with him eventually finishing in sixth place behind the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg.
Leclerc managed to get onto the podium after a late Safety Car brought him close to Max Verstappen, but Peter Windsor felt he pulled off a dangerous move leading up to the pass for the podium when speaking on his YouTube livestream.
Peter Windsor thinks Charles Leclerc pulled off ‘dangerous’ move on Max Verstappen
Verstappen had been put on the hard after requesting fresh tyres from Red Bull during his stop under Safety Car, but it turned out to be the wrong tyre for the Dutchman.
Sensing an opportunity at the restart, Leclerc on new mediums pulled alongside Verstappen after he had a moment, and the pair briefly collided. Windsor felt the move was unnecessarily dangerous.
“Charles Leclerc was alongside Max as they went along the start/finish straight and then moved over on him at about 330kph before the braking area and hit the Red Bull,” said Windsor.
“Max stays absolutely straight and you can see clearly Charles drives into him, one of the most dangerous things I’ve seen since Lance Stroll did that to Fernando Alonso in Austin a few years back.
“Anything on a straight should be jumped upon immediately. He didn’t do it deliberately, but it was inexcusable, just terrible.”
Ferrari plans big upgrades after Lewis Hamilton slumps behind Charles Leclerc
Hamilton has struggled to beat Leclerc on race pace so far this season, with the seven-time world champion often having to get out of the way for the Monegasque.
During the Spanish GP, Hamilton could be heard complaining about his Ferrari’s balance over team radio, while Leclerc also said it was constantly shifting in the post-race cool down room.
Ferrari are now planning to bring upgrades to their car, which should improve the drivability of their SF-25 for the Briton and help him challenge Leclerc more closely.
Juan Pablo Montoya also thinks Hamilton needs to change his engineers after a series of miscommunications throughout the season.
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