Breaking news
Formula 1 Chinese GP
Leclerc deserved more time before team order - Rosberg
Ex-Mercedes driver and 2016 Formula 1 champion Nico Rosberg believes the team order imposed by Ferrari on Charles Leclerc in the Chinese Grand Prix was "harsh".
Scott Mitchell
Edited: Apr 15, 2019, 4:52 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Leclerc was told to let teammate Sebastian Vettel past on lap 11 of the race, having got ahead of the four-time world champion at the start.
It was the third time in three races a team order has been issued to Leclerc.
He asked if he could attack Vettel late on in Australia and was told to hold position, and then ignored a command to stay behind Vettel in Bahrain, where he passed Vettel for the lead.
"That [the early order in China] was harsh," said Rosberg on his YouTube channel after the Chinese GP. "I guess he has to live with it at the moment. They have told him for now he will be a little bit of a number two at times.
"But I thought it was pretty harsh. At least give him a bit more time to show him he could go faster. But they were like go faster or you've got to let him by, and gave him not even one lap, I think. Then 'let him by'.
"Fair enough, but afterwards Vettel couldn't go much faster. He was one or two tenths quicker. That wasn't enough. It completely messed up Leclerc's race because of strategy he lost out to [Max] Verstappen as well. That's not great, how they managed that."
Promoting Vettel ahead of Leclerc in the Chinese GP means Vettel has moved one point ahead of his young teammate in the championship to become Ferrari's lead driver.
However, he is already 31 points behind Lewis Hamilton, while Ferrari trails Mercedes by 57 points following its rival's third consecutive one-two at the start of the season.
"I really hope Ferrari can ramp it up," Rosberg said. "We want to see some action, we want to see some close fighting like in Bahrain. So, let's hope they come back very quickly."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Mercedes' double-stack pitstop had Bottas "very concerned"
Next article Hamilton: Ferrari "not extracting their full potential"
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Scott Mitchell
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Formula 1
Formula 1
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Formula 1
Formula 1
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
Formula 1
Formula 1
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
More from
Charles Leclerc
F1 United States GP: Charles Leclerc completes perfect Friday by topping FP2
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
19 h
F1 United States GP: Charles Leclerc completes perfect Friday by topping FP2
F1 United States GP: Charles Leclerc pips Max Verstappen to top FP1
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
23 h
F1 United States GP: Charles Leclerc pips Max Verstappen to top FP1
More from
Ferrari
Exploring Ferrari's 'less than a tenth' US GP update package
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
22 h
Exploring Ferrari's 'less than a tenth' US GP update package
Lewis Hamilton: Kimi Antonelli “deserves to be the champion”
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
Lewis Hamilton: Kimi Antonelli “deserves to be the champion”
Latest news
Lamborghini | Barcelona selected to host the 2027 Super Trofeo World Finals
Lamborghini Super Trofeo
LBST Lamborghini Super Trofeo
World Finals - Monza 2026
35 min
Lamborghini | Barcelona selected to host the 2027 Super Trofeo World Finals
F1 United States GP live commentary and updates - FP3 begins
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
56 min
F1 United States GP live commentary and updates - FP3 begins
Lamborghini World Finals | AM-LC Race 1: An unstoppable Lewandowski dominates to win Race 1
Lamborghini Super Trofeo
LBST Lamborghini Super Trofeo
World Finals - Monza 2026
3 h
Lamborghini World Finals | AM-LC Race 1: An unstoppable Lewandowski dominates to win Race 1
Why Cadillac F1 boss provoked fresh intrigue by dodging driver question
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
4 h
Why Cadillac F1 boss provoked fresh intrigue by dodging driver question
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe