LECLERC ERROR HANDS VERSTAPPEN A BIG WIN
‘Noooo!” The anguish in Charles Leclerc’s scream of frustration as he switched his Ferrari off for the second time while stuck in the Beausset barriers was one of a racer knowing their big chance is slipping away.
Since his Imola off chasing Sergio Perez, pretty much all of Leclerc’s shocking 2022 misfortune had been out of his hands. But his spin on lap 18 of last weekend’s French Grand Prix, ultimately won by Max Verstappen, was all his own doing. And he knew it. Leclerc was alone when everything went so horribly wrong for him at Paul Ricard. Afterwards, he typically fronted up to his own error.
In the moment that mattered most, he was adapting to a suddenly changing race situation – reacting to Red Bull’s attempt to get the previously pursuing Verstappen ahead. Leclerc turned for Beausset from the wide line the Ferrari drivers had been using all weekend. It took him very close to the edge of the track as it had done 17 times before on Sunday. And then, the rears couldn’t take it.
Around went Leclerc – a 360-degree spin ending just as he went straight on into the barriers. There he couldn’t get his F1-75 into reverse because of “something with the clutch not working”, even after shutting it down and refiring. He turned it off for good and roared.
It wasn’t just that Leclerc’s crash and Verstappen’s victory meant the Dutchman left France with a 63-point standings lead after two races of having his advantage trimmed. It was that for the sixth time out of seven races since his Miami defeat, Leclerc had lost a genuine victory shot. Only his Austria triumph pricked that timespan and such a return really doesn’t make a successful
