Charles Leclerc thinks he lost too much time fighting with team-mate Lewis Hamilton during Saturday’s Shanghai Sprint race. The Monegasque driver had fumed at his fellow Ferrari racer over the radio during the 19-lap dash, unimpressed with the way the seven-time Formula 1 champion approached their duel for second place midway through the contest.

Both Ferraris had enjoyed a brilliant launch off the line, Hamilton taking the lead on the first lap. Leclerc also had a sniff at George Russell in those opening stages but was unable to get past the Mercedes racer, who bided his time before taking back control when Hamilton’s pace dropped slightly on lap five.

Hamilton then slipped behind Leclerc a few laps later, though he made his team-mate work for it. The two Ferraris were battling hard for position, particularly through the first sector of the Shanghai International Circuit and, although Leclerc was able to take and keep hold of second place, he wasn’t pleased with how Hamilton had approached the duel.

He told race engineer Bryan Bozzi over the radio: “Does he know how wide all these cars are?” as they came close to colliding at one point. Shortly after, when he again resisted another attack from the other Ferrari, he said: “Then he can complain about turn three, that’s okay.” Hamilton did not make any comments about Leclerc’s driving during the Sprint race.

Speaking again over the radio once the Sprint race had concluded, Leclerc seemed pleased with second place but, having taken the chequered flag just 0.674 seconds behind Russell, following a late safety car which brought the Ferraris back into the fight for victory, he told Bozzi: “The pace was strong, but a shame there was a bit more fighting than what I would have hoped.”

Reflecting on the battle between the Ferraris during an entertaining Sprint race, Sky Sports F1 analyst Jacques Villeneuve said he felt Leclerc may have been a touch too aggressive in his approach to fighting for position with his team-mate. The 1997 world champion said: “Charles was pushing. Lewis really had genuine pace early on, then obviously was aggressive because once you’re in the lead, you can kind of control it.

“So he was trying to stay in the lead there. I found Charles very aggressive in his defence against Lewis. That was a little bit almost over the edge, I would say, because Lewis didn’t fight him off meanly – it was very clean. Then Charles was pushing him off the track, which was a little bit tough.”

Ferrari again proved that their superior launches off the line are a significant weapon, though Villeneuve believes Russell will be well prepared for Sunday after having been shown what his rivals will be capable of in the early stages of a race. The Canadian added: “I think tomorrow he will have learned, George, that it’s not just the first lap – it’s the first maybe three, four laps he needs to worry about.”