Charles Leclerc said he was surprised to be spun around by a "very aggressive" move from Lando Norris during the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The incident took place in the early stages of the race, which were chaotic to say the least. First, Daniel Ricciardo took himself and Kevin Magnussen out of the race, forcing the safety car to be called out on the very first lap.
And moments after racing resumed, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen collided – shortly before Norris tagged Leclerc and sent him spinning into a soft Tecpro barrier. Fortunately for the Monegasque, he was able to continue after a change of front wing.
The other Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz, had said before the race that we was worried about having to battle with Norris after he was "particularly aggressive" during Saturday's Sprint. "Hopefully I can pass him quickly over the line and then join the battle at the front," said the Spaniard.
Leclerc came home fourth in the race behind Sainz, while Norris failed to finish after suffering a mechanical failure. Speaking about their collision, the Ferrari racer said: "Obviously I know that he is not this type of guy, but for some reason today he was very aggressive, and also yesterday the same with Carlos.
"I don't really understand, but it's like this. At the end I don't expect him to let me past. He didn't, but today was too much. And he paid the price with a penalty. After that contact I had a tough race, but we were able to make a good comeback. The pace was good, albeit not on Mercedes' level."
Norris, who was celebrating his 23rd birthday, was given a five-second time penalty for causing Leclerc's spin. Reflecting on the incident after the race, the Brit made it clear he felt a little hard done-by.
"He tried to go around the outside, there was a bit of contact," said Norris. "Obviously I didn't want any contact, I need a clean race, but I'm not just going to let everyone pass. I'm not here to let everyone pass. I tried to hold my line and I held my line as much as possible.
"Maybe I could have given five centimetres more and he could have given five centimetres more. Maybe he should expect a little bit more, me not being able to hold the inside line the whole way through, but I did my best.
"I feel it was a bit of a racing incident – I know he came off worse and that’s a shame. Obviously I didn't want that to happen but that wasn't the problem, that was just life and the rest of it was we were just way too slow. The car wasn't performing well today, that's all, and we didn't even finish the race so, disappointing."
