Sainz says Leclerc fans' abuse was harder than racing him

Carlos Sainz has said the hardest part of his time as Charles Leclerc's team-mate at Ferrari was not the on-track fighting but the abuse from Leclerc's most hardcore supporters. He said the rivalry was highly polarised and that he suffered from fans insulting him or wishing him bad.

Sainz also pointed to pressure from some Italian media, which he said questioned whether he was acting enough as the number two driver, and said the same criticism was levelled at Leclerc in reverse. He said the pressure came mostly from the wider Ferrari environment rather than from problems between the two drivers.

Sainz said he and Leclerc always settled their disputes privately, often by calling each other the same night with a cooler head, and that they always found a way forward.