Leclerc: Post-race chat with Binotto about 'cheering me up'

Charles Leclerc says an attempt to cheer him up after the British Grand Prix was behind the body language displayed by Mattia Binotto during his one-on-one with the Ferrari boss.

Binotto was seen on F1's world feed giving his driver a post-race talk in parc fermé and pointing a seemingly admonitory finger at Leclerc, which created some intrigue among the broadcasters.

But the Monegasque later revealed that his boss was just trying to lift his morale as he felt defeated by Sunday's events at Silverstone.

"He wanted to cheer me up," Leclerc told Sky Sports F1, explaining the scene.

"We will have to look at the global picture. On my side, I only have my picture for my race, and obviously in the car sometimes you don't have the full picture.

"From my side, I felt like I lost a bit too much time in the first stint, and especially in the first part of the second stint.

"But this is only my view, and it might change once I see the full picture."

• 'A day I will not forget!' declares victorious Sainz

With championship leader Max Verstappen out of contention, Leclerc appeared to be heading to his third win of the season, but a late safety car upset the running order.

During the race's neutralization, Ferrari opted to leave  Leclerc in position at the head of the field and call in Sainz for a fresh set of soft tyres, a decision that avoided a potentially risky double-stack pit stop like the one that led to Ferrari losing the Monaco Grand Prix earlier this year.

But the strategy left Leclerc a sitting duck on the restart as he was predictably passed in short order by Sainz and then also by Hamilton and Red Bull's Sergio Perez, although he battled hard with the latter two.

The Scuderia charger was visibly disappointed to have gone from first to fourth, defeated by circumstances and Ferrari's strategy choice. But Leclerc didn't want to rain on Sainz's party.

"I don't want the focus to be pointed towards my disappointing race, but more towards his incredible race win," said Leclerc.

"Obviously a first win in Formula 1 is always extremely special. It's great for the team, it's great for Carlos.

"He kept building confidence in the last few races and today he has shown it, so obviously I'm very happy for him."

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