Charles Leclerc (Ferrari): “I don’t know where these stories are coming from”

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was out of the Italian Grand Prix for a long time; he crashed on just the second lap and slammed into the tyre barriers. The Monegasque driver had to be taken to the circuit hospital for a check-up. He had been struggling with blurred vision in his right eye for a while, but fortunately was not seriously injured. Leclerc said: “That was what worried me the most. But it’s fine now.” He was experiencing a bit of pain following the violent impact, but that is nothing unusual after a crash of that sort. Leclerc had lost control at the Parabolica, skidded a short distance through the gravel and then, after half a spin, crashed sideways into the tyre barriers. The race was halted for just over half an hour whilst his Ferrari was recovered and the barrier repaired.

However, during those two laps driven by Leclerc at Ferrari’s home race in Monza, another remarkable scene unfolded: immediately after the start, there was a close battle with his team-mate Lewis Hamilton. At Turn 2, Leclerc left Hamilton barely any room, forcing the Briton to swerve into the gravel. Leclerc had started the race from third on the grid, Hamilton from fourth.

Leclerc on the incident with Hamilton

Leclerc: “Lewis tried to overtake. There wasn’t much room. I then simply tried to take the second corner as tightly as possible. It was far too tight and I don’t know if we made contact. I was on the inside, running over the kerbs, and tried to make it through the corner. I didn’t manage to take it tightly enough, and then I saw in the rear-view mirror what had happened.” Namely, Hamilton’s excursion into the gravel trap. Leclerc: “Of course, you never want that when you’re battling against your team-mate.”

Nevertheless, everything remains peaceful and friendly between the team-mates, Leclerc emphasises: “I don’t know where these stories come from, that we’re fighting against each other. That was already an issue at Zandvoort.” He does, however, admit: “It’s true, though, that we went too far here. Lewis went too far in the first corner. Then I tried to take the second corner as tightly as possible, but it just wasn’t enough. Doing that, of course, isn’t good.”

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