LE CASTELLET, France —
Charles Leclerc accepted the blame on Sunday after he crashed while leading
the French Grand Prix for Ferrari, gifting another triumph to title rival and
series leader Max Verstappen of Red Bull.
اضافة اعلان
The Monegasque driver, who led for 18 laps, lost
control of his car at the high-speed Le Beausset corner where he spun and
slowed before hitting the tire barriers.
Leclerc was unhurt but distressed at losing another
possible victory while leading for the third time this season and, after screaming
in anguish, later said it was “unacceptable”.
Verstappen took full advantage during a safety car
intervention following the crash to take control and go on to claim his seventh
win this season.
He now leads Leclerc in the title race with 233
points to 170.
“A mistake — my mistake,” said Leclerc.
“I think I am performing at the highest level of my
career, but if I keep doing these mistakes then it is pointless to perform at a
very high level.”
“I am losing too
many points. I think seven at Imola, 25 here — because honestly we probably
were the strongest car on track today — so if we lose the championship by 32
points at the end of the season, I will know where they are coming from.
“It’s unacceptable. I just need to get on top of
those things.”
While still in his car, following the crash, Leclerc
suggested he had suffered from a ‘sticking’ throttle, but he did not repeat
this later and took the blame himself.
He said he intends to study the data of the accident
to see if there was any mechanical fault which led to him losing control of the
rear end of the car.
“I go through the same process all the time, try to
analyze everything and today the snap was a bit of a weird one,” he said.
“So, I’ll look into the data and try to understand
if there is anything that I do not know yet, but to me it is a mistake and
that’s it.”
Leclerc’s misfortune allowed world champion
Verstappen to claim a crushing victory ahead of the two Mercedes of seven-time
champion Lewis Hamilton and
George Russell, enjoying the team’s first double
podium this year.
Mercedes extended their record as the only team to
score points in every race this year while Hamilton continued as the only
driver to finish each race.
Verstappen was sympathetic to Leclerc, but ruthless
in accumulating his points.
“I’m sorry for Charles, but it is easy to make a
mistake,” said Verstappen. “It can just happen. I’m sure we will have tough
weekends to come, too.
“Of course, it was unlucky for Charles and I hope
he’s ok. From there onwards, I just did my race, looked after the tires because
here, with the pit lane being so long, you couldn’t do another stop.”
Verstappen has a 63-point lead over Leclerc ahead of next
weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, the last before the summer break.
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