Charles Leclerc has explained the moment he collided with Lando Norris during practice for the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver was forced to bail out of a timed lap when Norris slowed ahead of him coming into the sweeping Turns 7 and 8 complex. Norris was on the racing line which caught Leclerc out, causing him to abort his effort.
In what appeared to be a moment of madness for the Ferrari driver, he swerved into the path of the McLaren and the pair collided. After the session, the stewards investigated him and later issued a reprimand because they deemed he drove his car in an “erratic” rather than “dangerous” manner.
Leclerc explained the move that disrupted his soft tyre runs before qualifying when speaking to ESPN after qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.
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Charles Leclerc ‘misjudged’ Lando Norris
Leclerc told the stewards that he “misjudged” the position of Norris’ car when he made the slight contact and elaborated on the situation when speaking to the media.
“Yeah, well, I mean the version is very simple. Lando exited the pit lane and I was behind on a push lap,” said Leclerc.
“Then when he aborted, I also aborted, I braked to be alongside him and I misjudged. So I was on the right, I didn’t want to impede either of the cars behind, and so I was a bit in the middle by being frustrated and looking in the mirrors to try and not impede, and then we collided, but it was more misunderstanding more than anything.
“I mean you’re always frustrated when you do that, but you never want to touch because obviously in FP3 that’s the last thing you want to do to damage the car, well my car first of all, because I’ve got qualifying right after.”
Lando Norris reacts to Charles Leclerc’s penalty
After qualifying, Norris could be seen in a discussion with Max Verstappen where the TV cameras picked up on him being told about Leclerc’s penalty.
After Verstappen told Norris that Leclerc only received a reprimand, a puzzled Norris responded: “My front wing was completely [ruined]. Crazy!”
He was the second driver to receive a reprimand after Lance Stroll also got the same treatment by the stewards for a collision with Lewis Hamilton during FP3.
The Aston Martin driver appeared to collide out of frustration with Hamilton but damaged his car rather than the Mercedes. Stroll was given a reprimand for “erratic” driving, his first driving reprimand of the season.
Drivers can only accrue four driving reprimands in a season before a fifth triggers an automatic 10-place grid penalty. The last driver to fall foul of the rule was Yuki Tsunoda at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix.
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