Charles Leclerc hoping for 'respect' from Lewis Hamilton in 'sexier positions' situation

Charles Leclerc has suggested Lewis Hamilton did not respect the rules after failing to hand back a position on the final lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

On older tyres compared to Hamilton, who had pitted considerably later, Leclerc graciously allowed by his Ferrari team-mate in a bid to attack McLaren's Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda in his Red Bull, and the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson ahead of him.

It proved a vain chase due to the DRS train sparked by fifth-placed Lawson, who defended superbly to keep Tsunoda at bay, and in doing so, held back the threat from the faster cars of Norris and Hamilton.

On the long straight to the finish line, Hamilton was told over the team radio to hand back eighth position to Leclerc, but conceded that, given he still saw a "0.001 per cent" chance to pass Norris, his actions in lifting off the throttle and braking to the line came too late. They crossed the line just under half a second apart.

The seven-time F1 champion confirmed post-race that he would apologise to Leclerc, who felt that Hamilton's actions were not in keeping with the spirit of such an unwritten rule.

The flipside from Leclerc's perspective, however, is that it was only eighth position that Hamilton should have ceded, not a high points-paying place he hopes will be respected in the future.

"I think it was very clear [what happened]," assessed Leclerc, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365 post-race.

"But I really don't care for an eighth place at the end. I don't think that this should be the talking point, unfortunately.

"We have been very slow all weekend, and that's what we should focus on. P8 or P9, or P9 or P8 is not something that really interests me, so it's fine."

Pointed out to Leclerc that it is customary for a driver to hand back a place to his team-mate if he has failed in his quest to pass his rivals ahead, Leclerc replied: "There are rules that we know we've got to work with, and maybe those rules were not respected.

"But again, P8, P9, P9, P8, that's small going forward. Obviously, if we are fighting for sexier oppositions, which I hope will be the case, then I hope that we will work differently, but on a day like this, honestly, I don't really mind."