Charles Leclerc crashed at Turn Seven in the closing stages of Q3 at the Miami GP having hit barriers at same corner in practice; Leclerc to start Sunday's race from seventh; watch Miami GP live on Sky Sports F1 at 8:30pm Sunday
Tuesday 9 May 2023 11:51, UK
Charles Leclerc admits his crash in Miami GP Qualifying was "unacceptable" after also hitting the barriers in the same place during Friday practice.
Leclerc was pitched into a high-speed spin after losing control of his Ferrari at Turn Seven during his final Q3 run. The crash brought out the red flag and prevented anyone else getting in a second lap as Sergio Perez took pole.
It was a case of déjà vu for Leclerc after his Friday practice had been curtailed by a crash through the same corner.
Having also made an error on his first Q3 run, Leclerc will start seventh on Sunday and he could not hide his anger at himself afterwards.
"More than the track, I think what's unacceptable is doing twice the same mistake in the same corner. I am really disappointed with myself," Leclerc told Sky Sports F1.
"You can always find excuses in those situations, the wind was really strong, it was really tricky, the set up of the car was really tricky also but I put myself in this condition. I wanted this set up and I knew it would be tricky, but I thought I would be able to extract the maximum out the car in Q3, which is normally one of my strong points.
"I know that I'm also taking more risks than others in Q3, which is why most of the time why I'm doing good Q3s but this is too much.
"Very disappointed with myself, I did the same mistake yesterday and this shouldn't happen."
Asked if he was putting too much pressure on himself in Q3 sessions, Leclerc replied: "I don't think so. It's paying off most of the time, but this weekend I did too much and I cannot hide my disappointment."
There is the possibility of rain affecting Sunday's race, and Leclerc says his initial focus is just on staying out of trouble.
"Now looking forward to tomorrow we are starting seventh, weather looks to be quite tricky so hopefully we'll have a clean race and be able to come back to the front," he said.
"The Astons look strong in race pace so I don't know exactly where we are going to be, a podium would be a really good finish tomorrow considering our race pace."
As well as his crash on Friday, Leclerc ended up in the barriers of the Sprint Shootout at last weekend's Azerbaijan GP when trying to improve his SQ3 time.
High-profile crashes have littered Leclerc's F1 career, and Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle thinks the 25-year-old is too often pushing beyond his limits.
"Leclerc was just totally lit up through there, too hard. We see that a lot with Charles, he doesn't seem to quite know where the limit is," Brundle said on commentary.
"His determination and his speed is so incredible, but there's no cut off point until he hits something, we've seen it a lot through his career and a lot lately as well.
"He's just got to take a quarter of a per cent out of it somewhere. He's doing a lot of damage to that Ferrari and at critical times."
The Formula 1 season continues with the Miami GP - watch Sunday's race live on Sky Sports F1 from 7pm, lights out at 8.30pm. Get Sky Sports
