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Charles Leclerc says he “let the team down” in making the move that took himself and his Ferrari Formula 1 team-mate Sebastian Vettel out of the Styrian Grand Prix.
Leclerc qualified one position behind Vettel and dropped a further three places due to a penalty for impeding Daniil Kvyat in qualifying, but was nonetheless right behind his team-mate after the start.
He looked down the inside of Vettel at the sharp Turn 3 right-hander, but swiftly ran out of room, bouncing over the inside kerb that launched his SF1000 into Vettel.
Kimi's view of the Ferrari incident 👀#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/RzxwEPYsAy
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 12, 2020
Vettel’s rear wing-less Ferrari came into the pits to retire immediately, while Leclerc was out shortly afterwards, making the two Ferraris the first retirements of the race.
Leclerc said he apologised to Vettel, and accepted he was too optimistic.
“Obviously excuses are not enough in times like this, and yeah, I am just disappointed in myself,” he told Sky Sports.
“I’ve done a very bad job today, I’ve let the team down.
I am disappointed in myself. I'm sorry but being sorry is not enough. Seb hasn't got any faults today. I've let the team down after them working a whole week to bring the updates early. Too eager to gain those places in the first lap. I will learn from it.
— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) July 12, 2020
“I can only be sorry, even though I know it’s not enough and I hope I’ll learn from this and will come back stronger for the next races, but it’s a tough time for the team.
“We don’t need that, the team doesn’t need that and [I’ve] put all the thoughts of the team in the bin, so, yeah, I’m very sorry but it’s not enough again.”
Vettel described the collision as a “big pity” and said he never expected Leclerc to attempt a move.
“I was fighting two other cars, we were already three cars in to Turn 3,” he told Sky.
“I was very surprised because I had the inside and I wasn’t expecting Charles to try something.
“I didn’t think there was any space.
“Obviously a big pity, something that we should avoid, but not much I could’ve done differently.
“I was just taking it easy and conservative because it was already very busy, it’s a hairpin, it’s very tight and [I was] just trying to place my car for the next straight, but by then I realised that I had some damage on the car.”
