Leclerc’s admission after his crash: « I deserve what happened to me today »
The Monegasque flatly admitted his mistake after his off-track excursion in Baku, which cost him a potential pole position.
Charles Leclerc didn’t need any comments from his team to realize the gravity of his mistake. Favored for pole position after his strong performances in free practice, the former Sauber driver hit the wall in the seventh turn, which is very tight, just before the small climb of the winding section. On the attack, the Monegasque climbed the left curb before ending his run against the wall, bending the right side of his Ferrari.
Annoyed, the main person involved self-flagellated by calling himself an “idiot” on the radio, just seconds after the crash.
« I deserve what happened to me today… I’m sad but I deserve it », said the Ferrari driver in the wake, to our colleagues at the English channel Sky Sports F1.
Oh, Charles! 😫#AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 #F1 pic.twitter.com/WeN1LcpgPH
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 27, 2019
A few minutes later, Charles Leclerc was still struggling to collect his thoughts, convinced of his mistake.
« I don’t want to say anything inappropriate, but considering the free practice sessions and also Q1, pole position was possible. But I messed it all up! »
To the question about the cause of his incident, the young Scuderia prospect stated that it was neither a lack of concentration nor a mechanical problem, but simply a misjudgment while braking, overlooking the fact that he was on medium tires.
Despite this incident, the 21-year-old driver still takes away some positives, stating that this mistake is also part of the learning process. He promises: he will come back stronger for the race, which he will start from 10th position.
But given the overtaking opportunities offered by the Azerbaijani circuit, Charles Leclerc can still believe in a comeback!
