Ferrari had a dramatic French Grand Prix despite being the strongest team during the weekend. Charles Leclerc started Sunday’s race in pole position after acing over Max Verstappen during Saturday’s qualifying. The Monegasque fended off an early attack from Red Bull and managed to get a strong lead with hopes of securing his second straight win and fourth overall in 2022. Unfortunately, Charles Leclerc lost control of his F1-75 and crashed at 100mp/h during lap 18. He was forced to retire from the lead in Paul Ricard, leaving a 63-point deficit to Verstappen, who took the chequered flag in France.
Meanwhile, the latest incident for Leclerc has extended the long list of misfortunes he faced this season. Due to reliability issues, the Monegasque was forced to retire from the lead in Barcelona and Baku. Moreover, he lost points in Imola due to a driving error, resulting in a trip to the gravel. However, Charles took full responsibility for the incident in France and blamed his mistake for missing out on a race win.
The Ferrari driver said that he was performing at the highest level in his career. However, Leclerc felt it would be pointless to perform at the highest level if he kept making mistakes. According to him, Ferrari was the strongest team on track on Sunday. Despite that, Charles felt he is losing too many points, seven in Imola and now 25 points in Paul Ricard. He added, “So if we lose the championship by 32 points, I will know from where they are coming from.”
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Charles Leclerc pointed out that the Paul Ricard circuit did not suit his driving style. However, he admitted that such mistakes were unacceptable and needed to get on top of that. Leclerc did a great job holding off an early attack from Max Verstappen, who was inching to take the lead. However, the Monegasque showed excellent defending skills despite the Red Bull’s superior straight-line pace. He worked really hard in the harsh condition in France to get a lead over Verstappen, who backed off to reduce tyre degradation.
Thus, Leclerc really screamed in anger at the team radio after the crash. The Ferrari driver revealed that he pushed too much and lost the rear of his car. Charles Leclerc claimed that it was a tough weekend for him as he struggled with the balance of the car. Moreover, the hot conditions affected the Monegasque’s consistency. He found it really hard to put laps together. Leclerc added, “And I made a mistake at the wrong moment.”
The Ferrari driver further mentioned that the snap of his F1-75 felt weird. Hence, Leclerc told he would analyze the data and try to understand if there was something more that caused the crash. He said, “For me, it’s a mistake, and that’s it.”