Charles Leclerc has claimed that his crash during Monaco GP qualifying was not completely down to him, as he pointed to a “combination of factors” that led to the incident. The Monegasque explained that he has been struggling with an issue on his car over the past two qualifying sessions.
Leclerc had major issues with the brakes on his Ferrari SF-26 at the Canadian GP, which had not been solved by the time he arrived in Monaco this weekend. He was also struggling with the same issues during practice and qualifying but still managed to be in contention for pole position for his home race on Saturday.
But on his final lap in Q3, the 28-year-old crashed into the barriers, meaning he was unable to complete the lap and ended the session in P4. Speaking to the media afterwards, Leclerc pointed to the issues he has been having with his car and added that he pushed too hard in qualifying without knowing the limit due to the “inconsistency” he felt while driving.
“It’s a combination of factors. When it’s only on me, I say it without much shame. But today was probably a combination of factors. I think, first of all, it’s a result of the last two weekends being particularly messy with something specifically on my car that I’m really struggling with at the moment that I think we have the solution for, but we will have to try it in Barcelona and see if it’s getting better,” said Leclerc [via Sky Sports].
“But the consistency of the car at the moment is just extremely tricky and that made me push in Q3 not really knowing where the limit of the car was and, yeah, I overdid it,” he added.
Charles Leclerc will now start Sunday’s Monaco GP from the second row alongside Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton. Ahead of them are Kimi Antonelli on pole and Max Verstappen with his joint-best qualifying result of the season in P2.
Charles Leclerc claims “dirty air” made him crash during Monaco GP qualifying
Charles Leclerc explained that he felt it was dirty air that unsettled his Ferrari and led to his crash during Monaco GP qualifying on Saturday. The driver admitted that he was “on the edge” during his final push lap but explained that he did not necessarily make a mistake that led to the crash.
“I was very much on the edge, and I think it was a very good lap until then. But I never finished it, so it’s a bit needless to say that. But, yeah, it was a good lap.”
“I had a little bit of dirty air on that lap where I lost it in Turn 12. There was no traffic as such, it was just dirty air. It made me lose the rear a little on corner entry, and I touched the wall.”
Ferrari was touted by many as the favorite for pole in Monaco this week, and Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc’s performance in Friday practice backed up that theory. But that dominant display has only culminated in a second-row lockout for the Italian team in qualifying.
Edited by Samyak Sharma
