Leclerc: We’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again

Much has been written about the incident which has further complicated matters for the team, but Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto went to great lengths to paint a picture of harmony and business as usual at the Scuderia despite the double DNF and the implications thereof.

With Vettel on paternal leave, Leclerc faced questions about the debacle at Interlagos and explained, “We looked at it and I particularly looked at it, obviously to try and understand how we could have made things better.

"I think it was very unfortunate first of all, because the touch was extremely small and it had a big drama after that. So that was a little bit unlucky.

“But as a team, I think we probably should try and be a bit less aggressive in between each other for these things to not happen again. For the team, it’s not good, for everyone that is supporting us, it’s not good, so we’ll try for it to not happen again.

“We tried to understand both of our situations. I think probably Seb shouldn’t have gone to the left, and he knows it. And I probably could have done a better job of avoiding him going to the left. Both of us have a bit of responsibility, but I think the most important is that everything is clear with Seb now, and we move forward.”

Binotto has been urged to establish 'rules of engagement' for his drivers, much as Mercedes supposedly did when Lewis hamilton versus Nico Rosberg got increasingly ugly.

But clearly the song remains the same for the Reds, “I think this doesn’t change. We’ll be able to race together. Obviously Seb and myself are very competitive, we both want to win, but we also need to find the right compromise - we're racing for the same team.

"We need to be less aggressive towards each other, give a little bit more space for these things to not happen again. Apart from that, I don’t think there is much that we can do. As I said, the consequences were huge in the last race, but if you look back in the contact, it was very, very small.

"It was unfortunate, but we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again," added the Ferrari driver who lies fourth in the championship ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi this weekend.