Charles Leclerc has said a “sweet spot” in the regulations on overtaking in Formula 1 can never be found, after a fierce battle with Alex Albon late in the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver put on an impressive showing in front of its home fans at Imola, and looked set to overturn an 11th-place start to fourth.
But a hard-charging Albon caught him, and the Anglo-Thai driver had to take avoiding action and skid across the gravel when Leclerc gave no quarter at Tamburello.
Albon was immediately passed by the other Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton, who then overtook Leclerc for fourth.
With Leclerc seemingly settling for fifth place, the team requested over the radio that he cede the position to Albon, leading to a furious riposte.
It left a bitter taste in the mouth of Leclerc, whose sixth place must have felt less of an achievement after such a strong showing.
Speaking to media including Motorsport Week after the race, Leclerc gave a summary of the incident from his perspective, and acknowledged it would be tight into the chicane.
“It was very much on the limit,” he said. “I was aware of that inside the car. Obviously, I went into the corner and I knew that it was going to be one of those ones that is going to be very tricky.
“But once you go for the braking point, then there’s no way to back off anymore. That was not my intention.
“I obviously wanted to try and keep that position and I’ve done my best.
“Was it over the limit or not? I’ll check back the footage. I’ve given it all I had. I knew that I had to with the tyres I was on at that time, I couldn’t leave anything.”
Leclerc ‘did not make mistake’ but admits F1 drivers ‘play with the rules’
Leclerc was certain that he was on the right side of the edge of fairness in the incident, but admitted he would not know how fine the lines would be until he watched it back on TV.
“It’s true. We all have the rules in our heads and we always try to play with them,” he said.
“Which is what I was trying to do today. Sometimes on those rules you speak about a centimetre is enough to be within the rules or without the rules.
“Judging it at 250 [KPH] is a bit tricky. I thought I was just in. Obviously, from outside it doesn’t look so nice because there’s one car in the gravel.
“But I’ll look back at it and I’m always very honest with myself. If I think that I’ve done a mistake, I’ll say it to Alex. But for now, I don’t think I did.”
Despite his protestations, Leclerc was level-headed in his approach to the incident and said he would face the decision, reasoning that every incident cannot be pre-determined by the rule-makers.
“I don’t think we’ll ever have a situation where everybody’s happy,” he added. “That’s my honest view on it. I think there will always be someone unhappy about it.
“I think it’s very difficult to please everyone. I don’t think we’ll ever find that sweet spot. I think we’ve got to accept it.
“When you’re penalised for something, you’ve just got to accept it. There will never be a rulebook that describes absolutely every situation.
“Even if there is, it would be impossible for us to remember all those rules for all those different situations.”
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