- Charles Leclerc appeared to collide with Lando Norris during FP3 in Barcelona
- The Ferrari star now faces a grid penalty for tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix
Charles Leclerc escaped a grid penalty after hitting Lando Norris following a collision between the pair during intense practice at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz topped FP3 in front of a home crowd at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, finishing narrowly ahead of Norris and Leclerc.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen, who extended his lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings with victory last season, could only manage to reach fourth place.
Despite Sainz’s success, all eyes after practice were on his Ferrari teammate following a meeting between Leclerc and Norris.
Throughout final practice, Leclerc appeared to become increasingly frustrated with Norris, apparently believing that his rival was unfairly hindering him.
Charles Leclerc appeared to collide with Lando Norris during the final practice sessions for the Spanish Grand Prix
Leclerc expressed his frustration with the McLaren driver with an X comment on the team radio
As Leclerc passed the McLaren driver at the entrance to Turns 7/8, he moved to the side and turned towards Norris’s front wing, appearing to make visible contact before venting his frustration over the team radio.
‘F*****. “I don’t understand why they did it.” Leclerc said.
The Monegasque driver eventually confronted the race stewards over the incident, but did not receive a grid penalty, instead receiving a driving caution.
“The stewards listened to the driver of car 16 (Charles Leclerc), the driver of car 4 (Lando Norris), the team representatives and reviewed the video, the team radio and video evidence from inside the car,” it said. the commissioners’ statement.
‘The driver of car 16 stated that car 4 prevented him from entering turn 5 and that bothered him. He then had to abort his fastest lap and claimed that, while attempting to move off the racing line before Turn 7, he misjudged the position of his car and made slight contact with car 4.
“Regardless of any possible intention, the stewards consider that the movement made by car 16, although not dangerous, is erratic and therefore issue a driving warning in accordance with precedent.”
Speaking to experts after the incident, former F1 driver Karun Chandhok called Leclerc’s actions “unnecessary.”
‘Charles’ is the most unnecessary for me. He had already done the lap of it, he was on a great lap, a second push.’ Chandhok said on Sky Sports.
Despite the controversy, Leclerc escaped a grid penalty and stewards called the incident “erratic” but not “dangerous.”
“In his delta, he was down in Turn 5. Maybe Lando would have struggled a little in Turn 5, but he wasn’t going to improve his lap time.
“It seemed unnecessary to me to qualify.
“There’s only two hours in between, he’s had to go up to the stewards and waste half an hour talking about these things, when you should be talking about putting yourself in the right position for qualifying.”