“It was quite unrealistic for him to try anything there”– Charles Leclerc on Lance Stroll sandwiching him in turn 1 accident

“It was quite unrealistic for him to try anything there”– Charles Leclerc talks about the ‘bowling’ accident he suffered in Hungary.

Charles Leclerc was massively upset with his exclusion from the Hungarian Grand Prix during the turn 1 accident. He sat on his car’s edge for a while to showcase his disappointment before exiting the track.

Nice bowling game. So frustrating.

— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) August 1, 2021

Two days after the race, he talks about the accident and mentions Lance Stroll, who sandwiched him between himself and Daniel Ricciardo, was trying an ‘unrealistic’ move.

“I know that sometimes small mistakes can have big consequences,” Leclerc said. “I think though this time, it’s not really a small mistake. I couldn’t see Lance in my mirrors, and he was five or six positions back, so it was quite unrealistic for him to try anything there.

“But it’s life, it happens. Very frustrating. [I’ve been] quite unlucky on my side, this first part of the season, but it’s like this and will focus to to have a better second part of the season.”

Had the pace to win the race

If Stroll had not been a perpetrator here, Leclerc and Ricciardo would have exited turn 1 at P2 and P3, considering the other crash wiped three drivers off the grid.

Asked if he felt he could have won the race without the crash, having seen Esteban Ocon score a shock victory for Alpine, Leclerc replied: “With the ‘if’, a lot of things would have been possible.”

“Looking at other cars in front I feel like, if the pace was there, yes, I think the pace was there to challenge for a win. Obviously with a shunt in the first lap, it is very difficult to know where we will have gone from there.”

Meanwhile, his teammate Carlos Sainz finished at the podium- P3, after Sebastian Vettel got disqualified from the race and stripped off his P2 win.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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