Charles Leclerc has claimed Andrea Kimi Antonelli was “as much to blame” as Oscar Piastri for the incident that saw him retire from Formula 1‘s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Enjoying a competitive showing in the early laps at Interlagos, and looked to take advantage as the race restarted after a Virtual Safety Car to clear the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto.
Leclerc capitalised on Antonelli reacting slow to the restart to line up an overtake on him into Turn 1, but he was hit when Piastri made contact with the Mercedes on the inside.
The stewards deemed Piastri responsible for the incident, awarding the Australian a 10-second time penalty, while Leclerc watched on from the sidelines.
But Leclerc believes the stewards could and should have taken action against Antonelli for his role in the crash, believing he was equally as culpable as Piastri.
“I watched it from afar, from where I was sat in the grass looking at the big screen from far,” Leclerc told media including Motorsport Week.
“Yeah, I mean it’s a shame. Collateral damage of an incident between Oscar and Kimi, where in my opinion actually Kimi was as much to blame as Oscar.
“For me it’s a bit of a 50-50 incident, Oscar being optimistic, Kimi doing the corner like Oscar was never there. And that means they collided and touched me.|
“Very frustrating considering we are fighting for the second in the Constructors’ Championship and we are the only ones that are not finishing the race today.
“So it’s going to be very difficult to get that second now.”
A painful day in Brazil for Ferrari
Dropping to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship with only three races left, Leclerc knew the significance of Ferrari’s disastrous weekend, but looked for the positives.
“Yeah, very frustrating,” he vented. “Very frustrating, but it’s the way it is. It’s the way that goes racing sometimes, but it’s difficult to swallow.
“I think the reaction of the team to turn the situation around from Friday to yesterday and today, this has been a really good effort.
“But on the other hand, when you finish a weekend like this, I’m pretty sure everybody is very much down.
Pushed on what he and Ferrari can achieve, Leclerc remained downbeat in the face of overwhelming odds, but had hope of a bounce-back in Las Vegas.
“Three weekends that need to be perfectly executed in order to get the second place in the Constructors,” he assessed.
“Maybe in Las Vegas, but Mercedes has been very strong in Las Vegas as well. And eventually now they are the ones that have the upper hand for the Constructors, so it’s going to be tricky.”
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