Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc was forced to reflect on what is the “worst start to the season” for the Ferrari man after his race at the 5.278-kilometre Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne ended on lap 1, due to a crash with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll as the Monegasque was attempting to quickly gain a position by overtaking the Canadian immediately after the race start.
Due to a clearly unsatisfactory qualifying session on Saturday, Charles Leclerc had to start the Australian Grand Prix from seventh place on the grid and at turn 3 he made contact with Lance Stroll.
Who last year started the Australian Grand Prix from pole position and went on to dominate the race, this time found himself in the midfield group and was on the outside line for Turn 3 as he tried an overtaking move on the Aston Martin. Unfortunately, his right-rear wheel made contact with the front-left of the Canadian’s single-seater, an incident that sent the SF-23 car into the gravel trap, as Charles’ race ended after just three corners.
While his colleagues were racing at Albert Park, Charles was already facing the media on another disappointing Sunday afternoon: “Frustrated, obviously it’s the worst ever start of the season. Only six points or eight points in total, it’s frustrating.” – the Monegasque admitted.
Charles Leclerc seemed to initially blame Lance Stroll for the incident at the race start which put an end to his race, as the Monegasque expressed his displeasure over the team radio, but Charles later confirmed after reviewing the moment that he believed the collision can be considered just a normal “racing incident”.
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“In Turn 3, I honestly wasn’t really planning to do any overtakes there, but Lance had to brake quite early or slow down the car a lot while braking, because Fernando had to [slow down] because of the cars in front,” – Charles Leclerc explained when asked by media on his incident with the Aston Martin – “I saw that there was a gap on the outside, I went for it, but unfortunately Fernando had to slow the car down even more towards the end of braking, and Lance found himself between Fernando and myself and we had contact. I’m obviously not blaming it on Lance. I think it’s a racing incident, but it’s just very frustrating because the end result is that I’m going home with no points.” – Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc concluded after the Australian Grand Prix.
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