Charles Leclerc shared a damning assessment after his crash during F1 Barcelona GP qualifying, saying that he feels “ashamed and disappointed”. The Monegasque admitted that the weekend has been a positive one for him so far, but was gutted not to be starting higher up for Sunday’s race.
Ferrari turned the heat up in qualifying as both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were in the mix for pole position alongside Mercedes’ George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. But on his first run in Q3, Leclerc lost control of his Ferrari SF-26 at Turn 4 and went off into the gravel before crashing into the barriers, ending his session.
Speaking to F1 TV after his crash, Leclerc cut an extremely downbeat figure as he claimed that he was “ashamed and disappointed” for letting the team and his fans down.
“I just feel ashamed of not putting everything together after what was a very positive weekend so far. The feeling is back and I’m still optimistic for tomorrow. But I should be starting higher up, and I don’t because of a mistake of mine. Yeah, I feel ashamed and disappointed,” said Leclerc.
“I mean, I feel ashamed for disappointing so many people who are supporting us, and yeah, it must be tough to stick with me,” he added.
Leclerc also said that the last two qualifying sessions for him have been about missed opportunities. He described both qualifying in Monaco and Barcelona as “what ifs”, explaining that while he had an issue last weekend, the disappointment is completely down to his mistake this time around.
The 28-year-old will now start P10, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton is on the front row after qualifying second on Saturday. Hamilton was under a tenth of a second behind pole sitter George Russell, meaning Leclerc, who looked quicker than his teammate before his crash, would also have been in with a legitimate shout for pole.
Charles Leclerc describes what went behind his crash during Barcelona GP qualifying
Charles Leclerc described exactly what went wrong in his crash during Barcelona GP qualifying after the session. The Ferrari driver explained that he carried more speed into Turn 4 than needed, putting him on the dirty part of the track, which meant he lost control.
Adding that Turn 4 has been the weakest corner for him all weekend, Leclerc said in the aforementioned interview:
“I released the brake, I think I carried quite a lot more speed in, which was okay in the mid-corner, but I ended up on the dirty parts of the track and lost the car. But, yeah, there’s no excuses. It’s a mistake.”
This incident now makes it three crashes in the last three competitive sessions for Charles Leclerc, after he crashed in both qualifying and the race in Monaco. While he was adamant about not taking the blame for either incident last weekend due to his brake issues, Leclerc was quick to own up to his mistake this time around.
Edited by Samyak Sharma