Christian Horner feels “Charles Leclerc should’ve held back George Russell” at Yas Marina. Christian Horner reflects on the battle between Ferrari and Mercedes for P2.

At the end of the 2023 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Christian Horner was asked about Scuderia Ferrari and the Italian side’s duel with Mercedes, stating that the Maranello team had “done half of their job.”

Red Bull was involved in the battle between Ferrari and Mercedes for the second position in the Constructors’ Championship after Sergio Pérez received a five-second penalty in the final stages of yesterday’s race.

Charles Leclerc tried to help Sergio Perez maintain his position against Russell by letting the Mexican overtake him at the beginning of the last lap.

At that point, the Ferrari driver decided not to slow down George Russell to create a gap of more than five seconds from Sergio Pérez, earning appreciation from Mercedes for his sportsmanship.

If Charles Leclerc had executed it perfectly, however, Ferrari would have scored enough points to surpass Mercedes and secure the second place in the Constructors’ Championship.

Christian Horner’s comments
Christian Horner emphasized that Red Bull had used Sergio Pérez to slow down Lewis Hamilton in the same race two years ago, stating that Ferrari should have done the same: “It was a logical thing to do in Ferrari’s position, the problem is they only did half of their job.”

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“They let Checo through, but then they didn’t do [they didn’t slow down Russell]. I think, as Sergio showed [referring to the 2021 race], you can lose quite a bit of time in that sector of the circuit. So, I think Charles should have held back George for a while to get that extra second,” he concluded at the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

It should be specified, however, that if Charles Leclerc had slowed down too much, he would have risked losing his position to Sergio Pérez, effectively nullifying his efforts to beat Mercedes.

Yesterday’s race was another demonstration of the love that the Monegasque driver feels for Ferrari and how he is always ready to give his best for his team.