Did Hamilton take too long to let Leclerc by? 'Will discuss together'

It was not the F1 Chinese Grand Prix that Ferrari might have expected following Hamilton's sprint race win, as both drivers were disqualified post-race for technical infringements.

But the start wasn't perfect either as Leclerc lost his front wing endplate when hitting the rear of Hamilton's car at the second corner.

"You can look at it from every different side, but I think it's just a racing incident," Leclerc told media at the Shanghai International Circuit. "I was down the inside. I didn't really want to overtake, I just wanted to position myself for turn three."

'Both of us couldn't avoid it'

I saw Lewis was defending from a car on the outside," added Leclerc. "I did not expect him to cut back, once he cut back I was surprised and I then I couldn't do much.

"But Lewis couldn't do much either because he hadn't seen me. This was just a bit unfortunate to have that in between our cars, but luckily it wasn't the race for any of us."

Despite the damage sustained, Leclerc's pace was not hampered as heavily as would have been imagine as he was able to close up quickly to Hamilton, which prompted the seven-time world champion to reach out to the Ferrari pitwall with a strkiing idea: to let Leclerc through, in a bid to see if his teammate could fight those ahead. Does the Monegasque believe Hamilton took too long to let him by?

"I don't know what the messages were. At the end, I don't really mind, we will discuss together but I thought it was fine," concluded Leclerc.