SAO PAULO -- Holding his newborn daughter in his arms helped Charles Leclerc forget all about his fallout with Lewis Hamilton at the Mexico City Grand Prix, something the Ferrari teammates agree is a “closed chapter” after sitting down with team boss Fred Vasseur on Thursday evening.
Hamilton and Leclerc both went off track while fighting for the lead on the opening lap in Mexico, handing the initiative to eventual winner Max Verstappen -- afterwards Hamilton had criticized Leclerc’s “do or die” mindset and approach to racing.
Speaking on the subject for the first time since the Interlagos talks, Hamilton confirmed the situation was resolved and downplayed the suggestion that either driver had made demands for preferential treatment in the meeting.
“Me and Charles, we sat and spoke and we squashed it and we’re moving on,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. “I think we still have a huge amount of respect for each other. I’m glad we had a chat and now we move on.
“We’ve been getting along just fine, as normal. So sometimes in those scenarios, it just takes having a conversation and there’s been no demands from either side. It’s just been both giving our points and areas that we can do better and support each other.”
Leclerc has had a busy week -- he flew from Mexico City to Monaco for the birth of daughter Bianca this week before returning to Brazil for this week’s meeting.
Asked by ESPN if that experience gave everything that happened in Mexico a different perspective, he said: “I was talking about that with all my close ones, actually, throughout this week.
“I think whether it’s in very good times or very bad times, I think it helps you. And it’s so difficult to do a step back when everything is normal. Because the highest emotion, I think, takes the upper hand and you kind of get carried on in thinking that this is the end of the world or the best day of your life. But at the end of the day, when things like this week happen for me, you forget about everything.
“The time this week where I’ve had Bianca in my arms, there wasn’t much more or much else in my head, and that’s been the case until probably Thursday night when I arrived and when it was time to speak with Fred and Lewis.”
Hamilton and Leclerc’s big meeting was talked about a lot coming into the week, but both drivers said it had gone smoothly. Leclerc suggested the issue had taken on a life of its own after the Mexico race.
“From my perspective [the meeting] was very straightforward of course. And I think it was good to speak,” he said. “I think this is always needed after a moment like this. I think it took proportions that are way too big. But it has been around also for way too long.
“At the same time it was a very special week for me. So I couldn’t really have those discussions before. And it was important to have those discussions. But now I consider that a closed chapter.”
The subject of Hamilton and Leclerc’s relationship at Ferrari has been one of the big talking points of the year.
There have been flashpoints before, such as at the Italian Grand Prix in September where Leclerc pushed Hamilton off the circuit at the start of the race before crashing out of the race a couple of laps later.
That led to Hamilton suggesting Ferrari needed to employ the kind of racing guidelines he had at Mercedes after colliding with teammate Nico Rosberg at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.
Leclerc downplayed any notion that he and Hamilton do not see eye to eye.
Asked by ESPN whether he considers his relationship with Hamilton to be OK, Leclerc replied: “Yes, of course. I really believe that when we speak things are much better straight away. Of course there is tension. Of course we want to finish ahead of each other.
“And sometimes we are not going to do things right. And it’s OK sometimes to disagree on the way we see things. But at the same time discussing about those helps a whole lot.”
Ferrari’s drivers have both taken on engine penalties for Sunday’s São Paulo Grand Prix.
Leclerc qualified fourth but will start 14th after a 10-place penalty.
Hamilton will start from 20th on the grid after Ferrari did a wholescale change of the components in his engine.