Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Hockenheimring, 2019

Leclerc: Baku qualifying crash was worse mistake than Hockenheim

RaceFans Round-up

Posted on

| Written by

In the round-up: Charles Leclerc says his crash during Q2 in Azerbaijan was a worst mistake than his race-ending shunt during the German Grand Prix.

What they say

Leclerc set the pace in Baku until he crashed in Q2:

I think after Baku I was definitely not the way I am now. For me it was a much bigger mistake.

In Hockenheim the consequences have been very big, probably bigger than they were actually in Baku in qualifying because are not scoring points. But on the other hand the conditions were very bad in the last few corners, it started raining again – it’s not an excuse in any way.

I need to learn from [it], but I would say the conditions were a lot more difficult.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Social media

Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Comment of the day

Congratulations to @Ninjenius who won our George Russell Caption Competition:

George Russell, Williams, Hungaroring, 2019

After Mercedes wound the clock back 125 years in Germany, Williams do likewise to celebrate their last championship title.
@Ninjenius

Thanks to everyone who joined in last weekend and special mentions to Derek Edwards, Phylyp, Pat Ruadh, Tom L and Short Circuit who also came up with great caption ideas.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Pimbers4955 and Dawson Johnstone!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

  • 40 years ago today commandingly won the Austrian Grand Prix from Gilles Villeneuve, who he passed early on.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

15 comments on “Leclerc: Baku qualifying crash was worse mistake than Hockenheim”

  1. Beyond that it’s up to the sport to allow females to compete.

    How does the sport prevent females from competing? If they have a license anyone can compete. There is no bar for women to enter races. What a stupid comment; go fast enough and you win, male or female.

  2. Congratulations to Ms Chadwick, I hope she has a bright and fulfilling career in Motorsport. On that quote though, women have always been allowed to compete in motorsport, they just haven’t been given protection against male competition, I hope she can prove her talent in mixed gender competition in the future.

    Elsewhere St.Bernie of Ecclestone was on the grid, yesterday, of the Austrian MotoGP which was a brilliant race, even better than the usual high standard from MotoGP.

    1. They’ve always been welcome to compete, but as we saw with drivers who have been dropped, only to be given a chance to shine in W Series and doing so, it doesn’t mean they get a fair chance.

      Motor racing is about money as much as talent at the lower levels (And F1 itself!) and women have found it harder to keep a level of funding together than comparable male drivers. Hopefully this will be the start of addressing this, as the meritocracy fallacy has been pushed pretty hard here and elsewhere in the motorsport community.

  3. LEC seems to ask a lot of himself. Upside is that he recognizes his soft points and can try to improve them. Downside is sometimes he may accept defeat because he made a mistake previously. Baku Q2 crash probably robbed him from pole and victory, but that should not make it easier for him to accept that Ferrari let him out to hold the Mercedes until VET arrives at the fight. With the right strategy (for him) he could be on the podium that day.

    On the other side, at Germany he had everything working for him (even Ferrari) and lost it. You can say that almost everybody went out at that corner (even HAM), but that is when you’re supposed to shine. Be either driving slower to stay on track or pulling a “Max Brazil Wet Masterclass”, that’s when you stand out from the crowd.

    Both mistakes cost him a podium and some points. I don’t see how one can be worst than the other. Maybe what he’s saying is that one was avoidable, and the other was not.

    1. @Only Facts! We, of course, will never get to know for sure, but it isn’t a ‘given’ that he would’ve achieved pole in Baku without the Q2-crash. Maybe, maybe not.

  4. Keep telling yourself it was a small mistake, a sound strategy….

    1. Leclerc is far too smart, he sees reality, Baku was a missed opportunity, in Germany he was trying too hard to make something happen, which is a problem for both Ferrari drivers. Some mistakes are unimportant, giving up a win and crashing vying for an unlikely win are 2 polar opposites for a driver’s expectations.

  5. Regarding Leclerc, I like the fact he is humble and for sure this is a quote from an answer to a question by a journalist but at the same time he sounds like he dwells on mistakes. It is good to learn from mistakes in all walks of life but je shouldn’t beat himself up. To be the best one has to believe it first and he sounds like he doesn’t.

  6. he sounds like he dwells on mistakes.

    Or more like this site dwelling on old quotes.
    The quote is from 1/8, the Thursday of Hungary where journos primarily ask questions about the previous race (Hockenheim). @broke84

    Looking forward to the Senna quotes in the round-up tomorrow :P

  7. Absolutely fantastic by Jamie Chadwick, I have no doubt she will be in F1 in some capacity in a few years. One of the most promising young drivers in all series today.

    1. proud_asturian
      12th August 2019, 12:55

      seriously?
      1 inherited win in f3 is “promising” to you?

  8. An off that ends with him barely visible underneath the Mercedes Benz sign: what could be worse than that for a Ferrari driver?
    The kid needs to do less yap yap, and learn more about technique from his skilful [but doomed] colleague Seb.

    1. An off that ends with him barely visible underneath the Mercedes Benz sign: what could be worse than that for a Ferrari driver?

      I hadn’t thought of that angle :D – its an unfortunate metaphor for the teams entire season (so far).

      Still crashing while trying to make something of a race with a car deficit is way more forgivable than dropping it on a non-critical lap during qualifying

  9. Ferrari drivers have resorted to compare which of their errors is the worst. Cool

  10. Hoping Jamie Chadwick gets a F2 drive next year.

    She, and a few others deserve to mix it with the boys now and see what they can really do at the steps towards a F1 (Or, FE) seat.

Comments are closed.