Leclerc: F1 race-ending crash in Italian GP my fault

Charles Leclerc has accepted full responsibility for his race-ending shunt which resulted in the Formula 1 red flag period at the Italian Grand Prix.

Kevin Magnussen’s stricken Haas caused the mid-race Safety Car period, allowing Leclerc to rise through the order as everyone was forced to delay their pit stops due to the pit lane being closed.

Leclerc had overtaken the two Alfa Romeos but then lost control of his Ferrari at the final corner, crashing heavily into the tyre barriers at the Parabolica.

When asked about the shunt, Leclerc owned up and took full blame for the crash.

“I just lost the car,” Leclerc said. “It’s my fault. It was a very difficult race to be honest, then I thought we were unlucky with the Safety Car but we were lucky.

“With the Hard tyres I struggled massively, I tried to push but lost it in Parabolica and crashed. It was just a mistake by my side, it was very difficult to drive prior to the crash but no excuses, it was my mistake.”

Sebastian Vettel didn’t fare any better, with the German suffering a double brake failure.

Vettel was thankful the failure happened into Turn 1 where there was plenty of run off.

“It is the worst thing but at least it happened in the best spot,” Vettel added.  “If it happens elsewhere it’s not so nice. I completely lost the pressure on the pedal and went straight. In the laps before I ran into trouble but we managed the brakes but it was obviously quite bad.

“I was struggling, had a very bad start with the hard tyres and lost positions. Then we ran into the problems, had to cool the car, and the brakes failed, so a short race.”