Leclerc: No hidden message in radio rants

Matthew Scott
Monday 6 May 2019 14:30

Charles Leclerc says there is no hidden messages in his furious radio messages when things do not go his way. The Ferrari driver was in a furious mood when he crashed in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, calling himself stupid over team radio.

Leclerc's team radio often features the 21-year-old admonishing himself, with some believing the Monegasque is too harsh on himself.

Two races have already slipped through Leclerc's fingers this year, through mechanical failure in Bahrain, before a Q2 crash in Azerbaijan denied him when he had looked the man to beat all weekend.

After the crash, Leclerc said to his team, and the viewing public: "I am stupid. I am stupid."

Asked if the messages were his way of apologising to Ferrari, Leclerc told Monaco Matin: "Not really. It was a natural, spontaneous reaction. No message to send.

"These words, in fact, they come out because I am very demanding with myself.

"Since my debut in single-seaters, and even since karting, I want to learn from my mistakes so as not to repeat them."

Leclerc is happy to accept the Bahrain issue, as it was out of his hands, but admitted that the Baku crash still stung.

He said: "The problem that slowed me down during the last laps in Bahrain is part of racing. We accept it. We cannot anticipate it.

"If I could rewrite history, I would not go off the track in Baku. Clearly, I think pole position was within our reach.

"I don't know if I lost concentration. In any case, I'm certain that we could have taken a much better place on the grid. Then we could have managed the race differently, with a different strategy."