Button casts doubt on Leclerc’s answer over Binotto chat

Charles Leclerc said a finger-wagging meeting between him and team boss Mattia Binotto was all good natured but Jenson Button was not so sure.

Throughout the British Grand Prix, Leclerc was becoming increasingly frustrated with his team’s decision not to let him overtake team-mate Carlos Sainz.

When the two were allowed to fight, Leclerc sailed past but it would be Sainz who would go on to win, his first race victory in his F1 career, after another botched pit stop strategy from the team.

After the race, Leclerc looked as if he received a telling off from Ferrari team boss Binotto but later played down the incident, claiming Binotto was trying to “cheer me up and that’s it”.

“I had the old hard tyres and obviously everybody around was on soft so I was struggling massively,” he told reporters.

“At the end I gave my absolute best but it wasn’t enough and it’s obviously disappointing.

“He [Binotto] wanted to cheer me up and that’s it.

“We’ll have to look at the global picture. I only have my picture of my race and in the car sometimes you don’t have the full picture.

Leclerc looks like he's getting a telling off from Mattia Binotto pic.twitter.com/qlLy8IbZny

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) July 3, 2022

“On my side, I feel like I’ve lost a little 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.”

Speaking on Sky Sports F1 after hearing Leclerc’s interview, Button doubted how truthful his answer was, joking that “I always cheer my friends up with a good finger wag.”

“It’s a tough race for him,” Button said. “He broke his wing on the first lap of the race in turn four with Checo, but he had good pace still.

“He was