Charles LeClerc Slams Hockenheim Circuit After Crashing in the Race

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was left gutted after getting caught out by the weather conditions in Hockenheim. His major beef was with the low-grip asphalt used on the outside of the final corners. He crashed out of Sunday’s German Grand Prix after skidding off on that corner and hitting the barriers. LeClerc was so incensed that he believed that that asphalt was “unacceptable” in Formula One.

The Monegasque driver was already steaming after he started 10th after a nightmarish qualifying session for both cars. However, he made up for it in the race when he clawed his way into the top six. Unfortunately, the crash undid everything and he admitted that he was “completely at fault” for his accident.

“I’m disappointed with myself,” he said. “It wasn’t a huge mistake. It’s a small mistake and I’ve done a lot bigger mistakes during the season.”

“It doesn’t make anything better for my mistake, but, first of all, I think the asphalt in the last two corners – it’s just unacceptable that we have that on a Formula One track when it’s wet.”

“We can’t have so much low-grip. We’ve seen other drivers too, maybe I was the only one on slicks, but I was at 60kph and had absolutely no grip. There’s something there. It’s like a dragster track and once you go on it, it’s just very, very dangerous.”

“But overall that does not forgive my mistake. I’m completely at fault today and it’s a huge shame. I’m very sorry for the fans and the team.”

Many other top drivers careened off the track in a similar fashion in the same part of the circuit. The victims included championship leader Lewis Hamilton and his team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg of Renault.

Meanwhile, LeClerc’s ecstatic team-mate Sebastian Vettel finished second after starting from 20th and last on the grid.

“It took a while – I don’t think there was a problem, but at the beginning, with the intermediates, I couldn’t get the hang of it,” he said.

“But, eventually I got going, so it’s good the afternoon took so long. I stayed tidy for most of the race. It was a long one!”