F1: Frustrated Ferrari star Charles Leclerc disappointed with poor start
- Heinrich Griessel
- 3 April 2023
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc believes his elimination in the opening lap of the Australian Grand Prix marks the worst start to a season he has ever had.
Leclerc collided with Lance Stroll while attempting to pass him on the outside of Turn 3, causing him to be thrown off the track and stranded in the gravel trap.
This was Leclerc's second retirement in three races, resulting in a mere six points for him thus far.
Leclerc placed tenth after finishing only one race in Jeddah, scoring the lowest number of points in his five seasons with Ferrari.
Leclerc admitted that Stroll was not at fault and that he took advantage of an opening that appeared suddenly on the outside of Turn 3.
"I'm frustrated, obviously it's the worst ever start of the season. I mean, only six points, so it's frustrating," said Leclerc.
No further action was taken on the incident as Stroll was caught between Leclerc and his teammate Fernando Alonso.
"In Turn 1 I took it easy, I didn't want to take any risk," said Leclerc.
"In Turn 3, I honestly wasn't really planning to do any overtakes there but Lance had to slow down the car a lot while braking because Fernando had to, because of the cars in front.
"And so I saw that there was a gap on the outside, I went for it.
"Unfortunately, Fernando had to slow even more down the car towards the end of braking and Lance found himself between Fernando and myself and we had contact.
"I'm obviously not blaming it on Lance. I think it's a racing incident. But it's just very frustrating because the end result is that I'm going home with basically no points."
