The fight for second in the constructors’ championship between Mercedes and Ferrari went down to the wire in the season finale. In a late but ultimately unsuccessful bid to thwart Mercedes, Leclerc allowed a penalised Sergio Perez to overtake in a bid to prevent George Russell landing a podium.
Leclerc wanted Perez, handicapped by five seconds for tagging Lando Norris, to pass and build a gap so that Russell, then running in fourth, would be far enough behind to not be promoted to third place.
Mercedes motorsport boss Wolff praised “sportsman” Leclerc for not going any further by actively slowing to delay Russell. The Austrian said: “We came to this weekend a little bit on the backfoot when you saw Ferrari's performances in the last few races.
“We have two guys fighting in the front and I think George's drive was impeccable, obviously managing the gaps at the end.
“The fight with Ferrari is a formidable fight between these two great brands, a team that we respect a lot, and Charles drove like a real sportsman at the end.”
Wolff acknowledged that Perez had not factored into Mercedes’ gameplan until late on, adding that Leclerc had proven his “character” from not resorting to underhand tactics by backing up Russell.
“Perez for quite some time wasn't really on the radar,” continued Wolff. “We only concentrated on ourselves and said, ‘Let's extract the quickest race for George’
Source: Autosport