WATCH: Charles Leclerc’s heartbreaking radio outburst after his French GP crash

WATCH: Charles Leclerc’s heartbreaking radio outburst after his French GP crash

Charles Leclerc's Ferrari in the barriers after his mistake

It was all going well for Charles Leclerc. He had held off Max Verstappen during the first few laps despite the Dutchman’s much, much superior straight-line speed, and had built up a significant gap. Verstappen pit earlier than Leclerc, as Ferrari elected to go longer, but it did not go well.

On lap 18, the Monegasque crashed out of the lead of the race, for the third time this season, and this time, by his own admittance, it was his fault. It seemed that Leclerc just lost the car, and he screamed into the team radio: “I cannot go off throttle. NOOOOOOOO!” some people thought it was a continuation of his throttle issues from Austria.

In an interview later, Charles Leclerc clarified that the throttle comment was that he could not reverse the car. This error will be extremely damaging to his championship bid, as he will now be 63 points behind Max Verstappen, and it looks very hard for him now. This time one cannot even put the blame on the team.

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Also Read: “It was the plan for the whole weekend,” Carlos Sainz gives an insight on his tactical tow to Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc admits the incident was his own mistake

Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc

After he had returned to the paddock, Leclerc apparently locked himself into his motorhome, and refused to come out of his motorhome for any interview, that just shows how devastated the Monegasque must have been. In an interview later, he accepted that the incident was his own mistake.

He said: “It was a mistake. I don’t deserve to win the championship by doing that.” This is Leclerc’s second major ‘mistake’ of the year, the first of which came in Imola when he was chasing down Sergio Perez. He took responsibility and said: “I lost 7 points in Imola, 25 here. If we lose the WDC by 32 points, I will know where they come from.”

The crash itself will give Ferrari fans an unpleasant reminder of Hockenheim 2018 when Sebastian Vettel lost the car and crashed out from the lead of the race, which also took the sting out of his championship charge. Ferrari are in desperate need of a clean weekend, and this looked promising, but Leclerc’s mistake seems to have ruined their (and his) championship charge. Hungary will have to be flawless if they want to have any chance of a recovery.

Also Read: “Congrats to Verstappen on winning the 2022 championship,” Ferrari fans give up hope after Charles Leclerc goes crashing into the walls at French GP

Also Read: “I’ve been very quick,” Carlos Sainz suggest that the race will be easier for Charles Leclerc because he is at the back