“I kind of closed my eyes”: Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc jokingly says that he kept his eyes shut at the scene of his crash during Qualifying in Jeddah

Charles Leclerc jokingly admitted to keeping his eyes shut at his practice session crash scene during Qualifying on Saturday. 

Charles Leclerc had a scary looking crash at turn 22 during FP2 in Jeddah. The Ferrari driver hit the barriers at a very high speed, red-flagging the session. He walked out of the car unhurt, but his SF21 looked to be in awful shape.

Thanks to the Ferrari mechanics, his car was repaired overnight, and he put in a strong Qualifying performance, finishing 4th. He will start the race alongside Max Verstappen in the second row.

Charles Leclerc is off into the wall at Turn 22

He is out of his car and confirms he’s okay over the radio. The session has been red flagged and will not be resumed#SaudiArabianGP 🇸🇦 #F1 pic.twitter.com/KWRttUcl0W

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 3, 2021

Despite his good Qualifying session, Leclerc admitted that he felt a certain amount of apprehension while on his flying laps.

“It was a lot better than Friday. I don’t think we could have expected anything more than that.” Leclerc said.

“The lap was really, really good – it was really, really on the limit. At Turn 22, I kind of closed the eyes on my fast lap and it worked out.”

“Eyes closed is an expression. I’m pretty sure I had my eyes open! But yeah, I lost the rear, and I honestly thought that the end will have been the same as yesterday.” he added.

“This time I kept it on track and made it stick, so I was very happy.”

Also read: Pirelli confident the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will not witness any tyre punctures

Charles Leclerc says that the crash on Friday felt ‘very bad’

Leclerc was seen limping after his crash on Friday. He didn’t sustain any lasting injuries but said he suffered from sore feet and woke up with a headache.

“It looked very bad and it felt very, very bad.” The 24-year-old said. “I hit the rear first, and the rear took all the shock, so if anything, it’s pretty crazy the engine has nothing any damage. The chassis then hit later on, so it was less of a shock for it, but it was quite a big one.

Quali 🏁

Great lap for #Charles16 P4 💪
Unlucky #Quali for #Carlos55 P15#essereFerrari 🔴 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/vtges1u6Mq

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) December 4, 2021

“My feet and head ached in the morning, but nothing too major.” Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz suffered from rear-wing issues during his Q2 run.

The Spaniard spun in the middle sector during both of his hot-laps and could not put up a competitive time on board. Sainz will start the race from P15.

Also read: Sebastian Vettel devastated after Aston Martin crashed out of Q1 in yesterday’s Saudi Arabia qualifying