Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took blame for the Turn 2 incident with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in F1 Japanese GP after the Dutchman’s frustration.
It was nearly a repeat of Austrian GP in F1 Japanese GP at Suzuka when Leclerc and Verstappen met each other at Turn 2 at the start of the grand prix. It was short-lived though as a hit from Leclerc, sent Verstappen into a spin.
The Dutchman’s car suffered damaged and he was forced to retire on Lap 15. Leclerc continued with a damaged car and was forced to pit – a call he denied for few laps as he was unable to see the extent – which sealed off his race.
He fought back and eventually ended up sixth but post-race, he was handed two time penalties which dropped him to seventh in the order. The FIA initially said no action required for his clash with Verstappen but re-opened the case in the race itself.
Verstappen was left quite frustrated after the end of the race and didn’t shy away from reflecting it. “I like hard racing, but I don’t think this was hard racing,” said Verstappen to media including F1 website. “This was just irresponsible driving into Turn 2.
“We had a really good start for once, so that was a positive, and then I just stayed on the outside. I felt like I was in third, but then suddenly into Turn 2, Charles just drove into the side of my car. From my side, I don’t think I could have done anything different there.
“We all know that you lose downforce behind a car, so that was not an excuse. I mean, I think he’s experienced enough to know that. For me, the weird thing is that, initially they didn’t even investigate it. I mean, my whole car is destroyed, the whole side, there were just holes in the side of the car.
“Then they start to investigate it but now it’s after the race. What more should he do to get a penalty? Also, just watching there the footage back from Seb’s start, he moves, he stops and the rules say you cannot move and that’s fine because he didn’t gain an advantage, they said. I really don’t understand what’s going on with the rules.”
Leclerc didn’t wish to comment on the incident initially as from inside he felt fine but wanted to look at it from the outside as well. He accepted that there was a moment of understeer as he was behind Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.
Later on, he eventually took the blame for the incident. “[It was] my mistake in Turn 1,” he said. “It ruined Max’s race and put ourself in a bad position for the remaining of the race. I had a poor start. I got a little bit distracted.
“I saw Seb moving a little bit and then my reaction time was very poor. The start was not so bad but the reaction was very poor. And with Max I just did a mistake, clearly. I was on the inside and being behind Seb and Lewis I lost the front a little bit.
“Normally you need to anticipate those things and I didn’t. Yep, I’m the one to blame.” Leclerc also clarified his stance regarding ignoring the pit call as Mattia Binotto accepted that they should have pitted him straightaway and not after two laps.
“The only part I could see lose from inside the car was the mirror and that’s why I was holding it down the straights to avoid losing it and hit somebody. All the other parts, we can’t see them, I was aware I had damage on the front wing.
“I could feel it but I wasn’t aware I was still losing parts. Thank God, nobody was hurt though.” Part of his wing and also the mirror did come off eventually despite the brave attempt to drive the 130R one-handed while holding the mirror.
Meanwhile, Mattia Binotto added: “What simply happened is we got the damage and Charles is the one who is driving and can feel the car, and how it behaves. From outside we saw the wing was broken so it would have needed to be changed at some stage.
“He still had the right pace, stayed out, but then the FIA asked us to come in for safety reasons and we immediately accepted the decision. The stewards realised maybe we should have come in earlier and we have been penalised for that as well.”
Here’s how the F1 Japanese GP panned out
Sebastian Vettel on his mistake and FIA’s clarification
Valtteri Bottas admits about concerns he had of Lewis Hamilton not pitting
Robert Kubica felt let down by Williams in Japanese GP
Leclerc handed time penalties for Verstappen clash and ignoring pit call