F1: 'I Think It Is A Joke,' Leclerc Hits Back At Verstappen's Ferrari Cheating Allegations

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc hit back at Max Verstappen over Red Bull's allegations that the Italian team had been dodging F1's engine rules.

In a recent interview after the United States Grand Prix, Verstappen took a dig at Ferrari as he said that their tame performance in Austin can be explicated by a technical directive, which illegally increased the fuel flow during the earlier races.

Asking to compare Ferrari's poor pace in the U.S to recent races, Red Bulls' Verstappen said," That's what happens when you stop cheating, of course. But yeah, they had a good look at it. So now we have to keep a close eye on it, of course."

After the Austin race, where Ferrari were off the pace and also faced a technical directive from the FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile), Verstappen repeated his claims saying he was "not surprised at all."

"Not surprised, at all, about it. After what came out. That explains everything," Verstappen added.

Reacting to the Red Bull driver's comments, Leclerc and Ferrari rubbished the claims saying they have not made any changes to the way they operated their engine.

"I think it is a joke to be completely honest. He has no clue. He is not on the team. We know exactly what we are doing. I don't know why he is speaking. He doesn't know anything about us," Leclerc said of Verstappen's comments.

Heading into the Mexican Grand Prix, Red Bull had written to the FIA to get clarification over fuel flow meter signal filtering. Red Bull and other teams had been wanting to know how Ferrari had gained such a huge advantage, especially in qualifying.

Meanwhile, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto expressed his disappointment with the remarks made against his team. He made it clear that their poor performance in Austin had nothing to do with engine power.

"I read and I heard a lot of comments this weekend about a technical directive and the impact on our cars. I heard comments at the end of the race which I feel are very disappointing. As a matter of fact, I believe yesterday we were very close to pole position as it had been in the last race."

"I think Seb could have scored pole, but maybe was a bit too cautious in one corner. Charles had a clear problem in the morning, losing FP3 completely, and then had a downgrade on the engine we fitted on the car," Binotto said in a recent interview.

Clearing that their problem was with the grip of the car and not speed, Binotto said, "If I look at the race, certainly the speed on the straight was not our issue whereas we had clear problems with the grip of the car in the first stint with both drivers. It is the type of comments that are completely wrong in the sport. It is not good for the sport and I think everybody should be a bit more cautious."