Jenson Button has questioned the explanation of Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto regarding a heated exchange with Charles Leclerc after the British Grand Prix.
A breathless final few laps of the race at Silverstone saw Leclerc miss out on a spot on the podium. It came after he was not called into the pits to change tyres when the safety car was deployed late into the race, while most of those around him were.
It meant the Monegasque had the lead when the racing resumed, but he was on old, hard rubber while his rivals had fresh, soft tyres. Team-mate Carlos Sainz passed with ease on the way to his maiden Formula 1 win, while Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton also got the better of him.
As a result, Leclerc cut a frustrated figure after climbing out of his car and heading into the Ferrari garage. As he did so, Sky Sports cameras caught what looked to be a frosty exchange between the racer and team chief Binotto, who was wagging his finger.
Leclerc had sounded frustrated over team radio, leading to assumptions that he was still furious after the race and he received a telling off from his boss. But both the racer and Binotto were quick to dismiss such suggestions.
"There is nothing to sort out internally," insisted Binotto. "It was simply to tell him 'I understand your disappointment, but you did a fantastic race today'. Being happy is difficult, but staying calm and positive is important."
Leclerc added: "I had the old hard tyres and obviously everybody around was on softs, so I was struggling massively. At the end I gave my absolute best, but it wasn't enough and it's obviously disappointing. [Binotto] wanted to cheer me up and that's it."
Button is not buying those explanations, though, as he joked: "I always cheer my friends up with a good finger wag. It’s a tough race for him – he broke his wing on the first lap of the race in turn four with Checo, but he had good pace still.
"He was pushing his team-mate round and in the end they swapped them over, gave him the lead, but the bad pitstop call at the end there with the safety car. It's happened again, there's the same thing in Monaco. So it's tricky. I don't know whose decision it was but obviously that cost him the victory."
