Charles Leclerc has taken the blame for the Ferrari F1 crash today between himself and Sebastian Vettel, one that forced both cars into retirement.
Just as when the tifosi were hopeful that Ferrari will turn a leaf after bringing in upgrades for this weekend, things went south-hill a minute into the Styrian GP.
Charles Leclerc, pushing to move ahead on Turn 3, hit the kerb, sending his car straight onto Sebastian’s rear wing. The latter’s rear wing was damaged, and headed to the pit lane, not to get a new wing in, but to retire.
Leclerc pitted right before Vettel, getting his front wing changed. It wasn’t enough though, as the damage was too much for him to continue the race.
Soon, after this, Team Principal Mattia Binotto was seen heading towards the garage from the pit lane, evidently to speak to his drivers. He later expressed disappointment, but refused to put the blame on anybody for the incident.
Leclerc apologises to Vettel and Ferrari; vows to learn from it
Charles Leclerc was not to shy away though, apologizing for his mistake which cost Ferrari massively. He emphasised on how he apologised to Vettel too and that he would learn from this and not repeat it in the races to come.
“I apologised (to Sebastian). Excuses are not enough in times like this. I am just disappointed in myself. I’ve done a very bad job today and let the team down. I can only be sorry even though it’s not enough”
“I hope I will learn from this and I will come back stronger for the next races. It’s a tough time for the team, we don’t need that, the team doesn’t need that, and I put all the efforts of the team in the bin.”
Vettel expresses surprises; says there was no space for Leclerc
Sebastian Vettel had this to say after the race, clearly disappointed with his teammate.
“I was very surprised because I had the inside and I wasn’t expecting Charles to try something. I didn’t think there was any space.
“Obviously, a big pity. It’s something we should avoid, but there was not much I could have done differently.
“I was already taking it easy and conservative because it’s already very busy, a hairpin, it’s very tight, I was trying to place my car for the next straight but by then I realised I had quite some damage on the car.”
