The sprint race in Miami almost literally fell into the water for Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque driver hit the wall before the start of the shortened session due to aquaplaning. As a result of the damage incurred, Leclerc could not appear at the start. ‘In the end, I can only blame myself,’ the Ferrari driver admits.
Even before the lights went out, Charles Leclerc’s sprint race was over. The rain was pouring down as the drivers drove to the starting spots, and the Monegasque had to deal with aquaplaning. Leclerc subsequently hit the wall hard. With damage to, among other things, the rear wing, the Ferrari driver could not participate in the sprint race.
“That was very frustrating, but in the end, I can only blame myself,” Leclerc sighs to the media. “It probably wasn’t the best choice to start the race on the intermediates, but on the other hand, these things just shouldn’t happen.””I truly felt like a passenger rather than a driver, as the crash happened in a straight line,” the driver continues. “It shouldn’t just happen in a straight line. I was just driving and then suddenly lost control of the car due to aquaplaning. There was no escaping it. All in all, it was very disappointing.” It was the first DNS, which stands for Did Not Start, for the Monegask since the GP Brazil in 2023.
Looking Forward to the Qualification
Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton finished third in the sprint race, thus benefiting from the chaos. The Monegask seems to ultimately accept his own misfortune. “It is what it is. I have to move on, because the qualification is in a few hours. I hope I can participate, but if I can, I hope we can recover from a difficult start to the day.”
It was a close call, or it would have been an even tougher day for Ferrari. Hamilton admitted after the sprint race that he nearly suffered the same fate as Leclerc before the start. “I had exactly the same kind of moment, as I was right behind Charles,” Hamilton tells The Race. “Somehow, I stopped just at the last moment towards the wall. That was almost game over for both of us.”
