Charles Leclerc in furious five-word message to Max Verstappen after Austrian GP drama

The Dutchman had quite an afternoon after falling back from the start where anti-stall kicked in.

In contrast, Leclerc led the entire race until Verstappen, on the charge, closed in on the Ferrari man in the closing stages.

The Red Bull star was side by side with Leclerc and took the lead after the cars banged wheels in dramatic fashion.

After losing the lead, Leclerc was quickly on the radio to give his reaction and was clearly unhappy with his rival.

He exclaimed: “What the hell was that!”

The incident is now being looked at by the stewards.

Verstappen felt like he had done nothing wrong in the immediate aftermath of the race when interviewed by Martin Brundle.

He said: “It’s hard racing, otherwise we have to stay at home.

“If those things are not allowed in racing, then what’s the point of being in Formula One.”

Leclerc also gave his view to Brundle before the podium took place.

The Ferrari driver said: “Overall the race was good, at the end I had a bit more degradation than I thought so Max came back.

“I’ll let the stewards decide, but for me in the car it was pretty clear. I don’t know how it looked on the outside, but we will see.

“I was on the outside just like the lap before, it was fine because he left the space for the exit on the corner, but he didn’t on the next lap, so we touched and I had to go wide and then obviously I didn’t have another chance to pass back, so it’s a shame.”

If Verstappen keeps the win it will be the first victory for Honda since their return to F1 back in 2014.

Verstappen began alongside Leclerc on the front row but dropped to seventh following a torrid start.

The Dutch driver was then running in fourth place with 20 laps to run, but passed Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas and finally Leclerc in a stunning end to the race.

Bottas finished third for Mercedes, while Vettel fought his way past Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap to take fourth.

Hamilton will head to his home race at Silverstone in a fortnight’s time, 31 points clear of Bottas in the championship.

British teenager Norris finished a career-equalling best sixth for McLaren.

The FIA will hold a hearing with Verstappen and Leclerc at 5pm BST.

Express Sport will keep you updated as and when the stewards decide whether they will hand Charles Leclerc the victory over Max Verstappen.

source: express.co.uk