Nico Rosberg shares what he heard about Ferrari debrief after sprint-race clash

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Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz nearly came to blows in the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race. And Nico Rosberg has now lifted the lid on what happened afterwards.

Max Verstappen passed Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton to win the race in dominant fashion. But while Hamilton held onto P2 relatively comfortably afterwards, it was chaos behind him.

Alonso was the front carriage in a DRS train that featured both Ferrari drivers, the Red Bull of Sergio Perez and then the two McLarens. And the battle erupted in the closing laps.

Sainz tried to find a way past Alonso through the first two sectors on lap 16, but he encountered an aggressive defence. So aggressive, in fact, that the Aston Martin driver received a penalty afterwards.

But when the Spanish duo made contact for a second time, it opened the door for those behind. Perez passed both at once to take third, and Leclerc followed his teammate past Alonso.

Leclerc then lined up a move on Sainz down the DRS straight, but the Australian Grand Prix winner was having none of it. He ran him wide and off the race track on the outside of the hairpin.

Eventually, Leclerc was able to squeeze past through the first couple of corners after utilising his second helping of DRS. But it was so close to disaster for Ferrari.

What Carlos Sainz did after Charles Leclerc near-miss

Speaking on Sky Sports F1 before qualifying, Rosberg revealed what he’d learned after speaking to figures behind the scenes at Ferrari. Sainz was apparently ‘apologetic’ about his conduct.

The 29-year-old is fighting for a spot on the grid next year after Ferrari decided to drop him in favour of Hamilton. He’s beaten Leclerc in all three races featuring both drivers this season.

• READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

But the Monegasque, true to form, shied away from creating any internal conflict. With both drivers of a mind to move on, there’s apparently been no damage to their relationship.

Rosberg said: “I have heard that, internally, there was a rather sincere discussion. Charles is someone who won’t go to the very limit of internally being aggressive. We’ve seen that. Carlos was forthcoming and apologetic, so apparently things are more or less okay again.”

Ferrari face Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc challenge

The dynamic at Ferrari this season may be difficult for team principal Fred Vasseur to manage. Sainz has nothing to lose, so from that standpoint his aggression shouldn’t come as a surprise.

We saw a glimpse of his approach at the very first race of the season in Bahrain as he battled his way past his teammate to take third place. He appears to be fired-up after his team snubbed him.

When Sainz does move on at the end of the year, Vasseur will welcome one of the sport’s biggest personalities to the team. Hamilton is the most successful driver in F1 history with seven world titles and 103 wins.

Leclerc has only won five races so far but Esteban Ocon says he’s one of the two most naturally-talented drivers on the grid alongside Verstappen. Sebastian Vettel, his old teammate, thinks it will be ‘difficult’ for Ferrari to deal with two drivers operating at such a high level.