Charles Leclerc admits Ferrari ‘confusion’ after Lando Norris collision

Charles Leclerc admitted to “a bit of confusion” in the pit lane potentially led to his collision with Lando Norris in FP2, with Ferrari having now been fined €10,000 for an unsafe release.

Leclerc and Norris made contact after the Ferrari was released at a similar time to the McLaren, with Norris being pushed into the wall as the pair touched front wings.

Charles Leclerc admits to ‘confusion’ after Lando Norris collision

Ferrari was handed a €10,000 fine after the stewards’ verdict expressed the view that a “more severe penalty” than usual was required, after Ferrari staff responsible “misjudged the situation” of Norris and Piastri feeding into the fast lane.

Norris suffered front wing damage as a result of the incident, and Leclerc himself explained that without the ability to spot the McLarens coming, with the cars in his blind spot exiting the garage, he also did not receive a message to stop when coming out of the garage, but acknokwledged “these things happen” on occasion.

“Good FP1, very difficult FP2,” Leclerc summarised after Friday’s running in Singapore.

“It’s been just a very messy FP2, with the traffic and with the red flags and with the pit lane incident, so lots of things going on which haven’t been very positive, but we’ll reset and come back for more, stronger. I think the pace is in the car, so that’s a good thing.”

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On the Norris incident specifically, he added: “I’ve analysed, and obviously, my camera was on my face, so I couldn’t see to double check with Ali, my mechanic, but then speaking with him, I think it was a bit of confusion with the two McLarens going out.

“It looked like they were going out at the same time, so he thought that they will go out a bit slow, and so I didn’t have the message to stop.

“On these kinds of cases, you kind of rely on the team, but I mean, these kinds of things happen.

“It was also in a tricky moment, because with all the red flags, everybody was such in a rush to get out to do some laps. So yeah, it’s a combination of things. It’s not something you want, but these things happen.”

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