Charles Leclerc refused to pin the blame on his poor qualifying result at the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix on Isack Hadjar, despite being held up by the Racing Bulls.
Leclerc was attempting to secure a better grid position at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve when a mistake through the Turn 6/7 chicane prompted him to abandon the lap.
The Monegasque, who was condemned to eighth place on the timesheets, asserted that the turbulence from Hadjar’s Racing Bulls ahead had contributed to his error.
But when the dust had settled, Leclerc, who had a discussion with Hadjar in the media pen, denied that the French rookie had conducted in an untoward way on track.
“It was [Hadjar’s dirty air],” he said when asked to offer an opinion to media including Motorsport Week. “I mean, we are going to look back at the data.
“On a track like this with the walls, it’s like Monaco, it’s like some other tracks where it’s always trickier with the dirty air.
“Obviously emotions are running high when you are in the car. I don’t think he’s done anything wrong, but we know how it is.
“I mean, sometimes depending on where you are catching a car, then this can have a big influence on the lap.
“It had a huge influence on me. I just wanted to obviously warn him what I said in the car, that I was quite angry, but there’s nothing wrong with what Isack has done.”
Leclerc ‘disappointed’ to miss Canada pole shot
Leclerc denied that being sidelined during FP2 due to a crash in the opening practice session had contributed to him being restricted to lining up on the fourth row.
Instead, the eight-time F1 race winner expressed that he was more disconsolate with the Q3 blunder that denied him what he suspects was a shot at pole position.
“[Was qualifying] impacted in any kind of way from yesterday? Zero. From FP3 from the first laps, I felt good, so I regretted nothing,” he added.
“I basically didn’t change the car since my three laps in FP1, because I was happy with the car.
“I’m just very, very disappointed with Q3 because I think that the beginning of the lap was worth, or at least good enough, to be fighting for pole position and we are now starting P8, so very disappointed with that.”
READ MORE – Isack Hadjar slapped with grid penalty for impeding during Canada F1 qualifying
