Charles Leclerc has denied that he was pressured into making a mistake at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix last Sunday, which saw him miss out on a podium finish.
Leclerc was chasing Red Bull’s Sergio Perez late on in the race, with both drivers running on fresh sets of Soft tyres.
As Leclerc rounded the chicane of Turns 14 and 15 in the closing stages of the race, too much inside kerb resulted in a spin for the Ferrari driver.
After making contact with the barrier, Leclerc was forced to pit from front wing repairs, dropping him down the order.
In the remaining laps, Leclerc recovered to sixth on the road – but missed out on a top-three result, allowing Max Verstappen to further eat into the championship deficit.
However, Leclerc denies that the pressure of the battle with Perez resulted in the spin.
“No, there wasn’t [pressure getting to me],” Leclerc said. “That’s what I think at least.
“Obviously we’ve had pressure not only today but for the whole weekend. I don’t think I’ve done many mistakes before today, it was the mistake that cost me a lot.
“And I’ll learn from it. But no, from my side there was no particular added pressure whatsoever.”
With Leclerc accepting that every possible point could be crucial to his title hopes in 2022, the Monegasque driver has vowed not to repeat his mistake again.
“It’s one of those mistakes where it’s a bit more the mental approach you’ve had at that particular moment of the race,” he said.
“I’ve always been strong in knowing which particular feeling I’ve felt at that moment of the race and know how to correct it.
“It’s again a mistake, but I’ll learn from it and won’t do it again. And with the mistake I’ve been a bit lucky because I’ve only lost seven points to what I could’ve scored.
“But it’s seven points that could be valuable at the end of the season, and every point counts when you are driving for the title. So yeah, it won’t happen again.”
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