Mattia Binotto says he understands why Charles Leclerc would be upset about Ferrari’s use of team orders in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix after being told to give up ꦡhis position to Sebastian Vettel early in the race.

Le⭕clerc passed Vettel at the start for third place, but was made to move aside for his teammate on Lap 11 as Ferrari looked to stop the leading Mercedes drivers from pulling any further ahead. Ferrari had previously said it would look to give the more experienced Vettel the priority over Leclerc in the early part of the season should the situation arise.

However, Vettel could not cut the gap, l🌃eaving Leclerc frustrated over team radio as he sat behind his teammate. Leclerc ultimately finished the race fifth after losing a place to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen 🌃at the first round of pit stops.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, Ferrari F1 chief Binotto explained the call to give Vett🌠el the chance to catch the Mercedes drivers, but said he understood why Leclerc would feel upset.

“I understand the feeling of Charles🃏,” Binotto said.

“I think it is a shame for him, but at that stage of the race thꩵe Mercedes were slightly faster, We simply tried to give Sebastian a go to see if he could catch the pace🦋 of the Mercedes at that stage of the race.

“It was not to give🥃 the advantage to one driver over the other. We, as a team, tri🔴ed whatever we could at an important moment of the race.

“I think if Charles is upset, he is right to be upset. I think it’s a shame for him. But maybe next time, it will be t𒀰o his advantage.”

Leclerc remained coy when talking about the decision in the immediate aftermath of theꦜ race, saying he wanted to speak with his engineers first to understand the call before mak𓆏ing a firm judgement.

“I need to understand the full picture, to see the full picture, to speak with the engineers and understand the decision,” Lecler♋c said.

“I’m preꦡtty sure there is for sure an explanation behind this decision and I will understand it.

“Anyway, it’s the past. It has not been ꦓa great race for me, but overall the weekend has not been as strong as I wanted driving.

“In qualy it was OK, but in FP1, FP2 and FP3, and also going in the race without any mileage on high 𒉰fuel runꦺs was not ideal.

“Overall, t🍸oday was not a 💞good day, but we’ll come back stronger.”

Leclerc defended Ferrari’s decision to keep him out for a long second stint before coming in for his final pit stop, saying the plan was🅠 for him to 𝄹try and back up the Mercedes drivers to help Vettel.

“If y🏅ou look at my own race, I think obviously we would have pitted earlier,” Leclerc said.

“If you look at the team race, I𓆏 think they did the right thing trying to slow down the Mercedes for🃏 Seb to come back, which was I believe the target.

“It didn’t work, but it was the target. At least we tried, and we’ll look forward 𓆏now.”