Charles Leclerc has conceded to having fun with Lewis Hamilton during their sensational fight during the Chinese Grand Prix - but doubts those inside Ferrari would share the same view.
The Monégasque driver also signal his delight for Hamilton after the seven-time F1 champion secured his first top-three finish for the Scuderia in his 26th grand prix, finally ending his unwanted record.
The duo were involved in a high-intensity scrap throughout the grand prix, with the seven-time champion coming out on top to follow the Mercedes pair across the line and complete the podium line-up.
Having missed out on adding to his own trophy cabinet, Leclerc conceded Hamilton simply had more pace than him in the fight.
“I really enjoyed it - if you ask the team, I'm not sure they will reply the same,” Leclerc told the media, including RacingNews365.
“But I really enjoyed it. These cars are actually quite fun. It was just a cool race.
“I’m happy for his podium. I’m of course disappointed for losing out on the podium on my side, but I know I've given everything.
“At the end of the day, Lewis was just stronger this weekend.”
Leclerc and Hamilton swapped positions on multiple occasions throughout the 56-lap race as they played with energy deployment.
As the drivers continue to discover how best to extract pace from the new power units, Leclerc detailed that the fight turned into a tactical battle.
“It was a very hard, but fair battle, which was nice,” he said. "There are also a lot of tactics from inside the cockpit that are really cool.
“There was this battle for who would get the overtake in the last corner, and we both braked very early, and the way you deploy and manage the energy, it was a fun race.”
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