Tension between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz flared up during the Las Vegas Grand Prix after a disagreement over team orders.

The situation started during the second round of pit stops. Ferrari instructed Sainz not to overtake Leclerc as he exited the pit lane on Lap 31, but Sainz ignored the call and passed Leclerc into Turn 4.

The confusion began earlier, during Sainz’s second pit stop on Lap 28. Ferrari wasn’t ready for him, forcing him to abort his entry. This delay allowed Leclerc to briefly gain the advantage with an overcut strategy, rejoining the track ahead of Sainz three laps later.

However, Sainz quickly reclaimed the position, likely frustrated by his earlier pit stop mishap. This left Leclerc furious, feeling that Sainz’s move disrespected team agreements.

“I did my job, but being nice fucks me over all the time,” he shouted over the radio to his engineer after the race.

Leclerc, who finished fourth behind Sainz in third, expressed that he always tries to follow Ferrari’s rules and was clearly upset by the situation. However, Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur said that the radio message won’t cause any long-term problems for the team.

The Monegasque said that the incident is in the past and won’t affect their performance at the Qatar Grand Prix. “I don’t want to go back to what happened in Vegas,” he addressed, quoted by Motorsport Week, showing his focus on moving forward.

Sainz agreed, saying that tensions like this happen when they are close on track. “I fully agree [with Leclerc],” he said.

“It always happens with us.

“We go through some misunderstandings that in the heat of the moment we obviously are quite vocal about and we feel very frustrated about.

“After a couple of days have gone by and you can see everything with a bit more perspective, relativise everything a bit more and give yourself a bit of time to analyse things and to conclude what happens and you realise that when you talk through things you can actually understand them and put them behind.

“That’s the exercise that we’ve been having to do for four years because we’re always sharing the same piece of tarmac and we’re always fighting each other on track because we’re driving the same car and we are equally on pace and we’ve gone through this so often that we know how to talk and then move on from it.”

Both drivers have stressed that they are committed to working together for Ferrari’s success. The team is now focused on the Qatar Grand Prix and their fight for the Constructors’ Championship trophy.