Charles Leclerc's Frustrating Exit at Italian Grand Prix
Charles Leclerc cut a frustrated figure after a brutal early exit from the Italian Grand Prix, as he tried to piece together both a fraught opening-lap duel with team mate Lewis Hamilton and the crash that ended his race in front of Ferrari’s home crowd.
The Ferraris had lined up nose-to-tail on the second row, Leclerc in P3 with Hamilton just behind in P4, and both launched hard when the lights went out. Into the first chicane, neither gave an inch. They ran side by side into Turn 1 and then into Turn 2, the red cars locked in a tense, high-speed negotiation over track space.
Hamilton was the one who lost out. Forced wide, he bounced through the gravel and tumbled down the order, immediately radioing that he had been pushed off.
Leclerc, speaking afterwards, didn’t try to dress up how close it had come between the two Ferraris.
“With Lewis it was way too close into Turn 1 and unfortunately in Turn 2 – I don't know if we had contact or whatsoever,” he said, admitting that this is “never what you want” between team mates.
He described how he had been “quite a lot on the inside curve” as he tried to make the corner, only later seeing the full picture in his mirrors as Hamilton skated off.
The Monegasque’s own race unravelled almost instantly after that skirmish.
Charging through Parabolica on Lap 2, Leclerc ran off the road and slammed into the barriers, his Ferrari snapping out of control and burying itself in the wall as the Tifosi watched in stunned silence. The impact ended his afternoon on the spot, though he climbed out unhurt.
He later tried to explain what he had felt in the car in those fleeting moments before the crash.
“For the crash itself, I went on throttle – on the first lap it felt kind of weird, I had to go back off and on throttle,” he said. “On that second lap, I tried to do the same thing but, I don't know, it just felt a little bit weird, so we'll look into it.”
No damage to the driver, heavy damage to the car, and a lingering sense of what might have been for Ferrari at Monza. Now the team must sift through the data – and that opening-lap flashpoint – before this bruising home weekend leaves deeper scars on their season.
