Leclerc was ‘as ‘f****** stupid as in Baku’ 2019

Jamie Woodhouse
Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc called his Istanbul error as "f****** stupid" as Baku 2019 over team radio.

Charles Leclerc had quite the emotional outburst over team radio after he let a podium slip away at the Turkish Grand Prix.

Despite featuring in the top three throughout practice at Istanbul Park, Ferrari didn’t have the pace when it mattered in qualifying with Leclerc and his team-mate Sebastian Vettel both suffering eliminations in Q2.

It was the same conditions for the race, wet, cold and slippery, but Leclerc fared much better and looked set for a fantastic P2 finish.

That was until he made an error with just a few corners of the race remaining, allowing Racing Point’s Sergio Perez back in to P2, the man Leclerc had overtaken for that position earlier in the lap.

Vettel also got in on the action, taking the final podium spot for himself to leave Leclerc P4 at the finish.

Leclerc is known for being hard on himself whenever he makes an error, and Istanbul was no exception.

In fact, over team radio he said his mistake was as stupid as Baku 2019 when he crashed out in qualifying on a Saturday where he was in the hunt for pole.

“I did a shit job. I did a shit job. I did a f***ing shit job,” he said over team radio when Ferrari praised his P4 finish.

“I am so sorry. I am f***ing stupid. As much as in Baku,” he continued despite being told to turn the radio off.

That wasn’t the first time that Leclerc had been told by Ferrari this season to switch the radio off.

After finishing P14 at the Belgian Grand Prix Leclerc’s sweary rant caused Ferrari to order him to disable team radio.

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Speaking to the media about his late error at the Turkish Grand Prix, Leclerc said: “In Turn 9 we were very competitive and Sergio on that lap did a mistake. So in Turn 10 I tried to go around the outside, but the grip was very poor.

“The Racing Point in general with the slipstream was very quick on the straights, so he manages to be on the right side, and I locked up at the end.

“To be honest, looking back at the data I didn’t do anything crazy. Same braking point, same pressure, but obviously it was more wet on the inside.

“So it’s completely my mistake. I should have anticipated that, so I went straight. It was actually very difficult to make the corner anyway. Which I fortunately did. And yeah, that’s it.”

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