Charles Leclerc has backed Max Verstappen’s view that Formula 1’s new driving guidelines are stopping natural racing – after labelling the rules a “f*****g” joke at Imola.
Leclerc was forced to give up track position and fifth place to Williams’ Alex Albon in the closing stages, after he found himself subject to an investigation over an incident they had at the first chicane a few laps before.
Albon, on fresher tyres at the time, had attempted to go around the outside of the Ferrari at the first left-hander – but found himself squeezed out on the exit and had to skip across the gravel to avoid a collision.
The stewards never formally came to a conclusion over who was at fault in the incident because, as soon as it was announced that Leclerc’s move in potentially forcing Albon off track was being looked at, Ferrari elected to give up the place rather than risk a five-second penalty that could have dropped him out of the points.
After being told to move aside for Albon in the wake of what happened, Leclerc came on team radio and said: “Is this what racing is now? When he can’t pass, I need to let him pass? This is a f*****g joke. What did I do wrong?”
Speaking later, Leclerc said he felt that the nature of the incident – which would need close video analysis to determine whether or not Albon had his front axle ahead of Leclerc’s front axle at he apex of the corner – highlights a problem that Verstappen previously raised.
It is that drivers are now more focused on ensuring that they follow the letter of the law than racing in a way that they have grown up with from karting.
Asked by The Race if he agreed with Verstappen’s remarks about things not being natural any more, Leclerc said: “It's true.
“I mean, we all have the rules in our heads and we always try to play with them, which is what I was trying to do.
“But sometimes on those rules, you speak about a centimetre is enough to be within the rules or without the rules. And judging it at 250km/h is a bit tricky.
“I thought I was just in. But obviously from outside it doesn't look so nice because there's one car in the gravel.
“But I'll look back at it, and I'm always very honest with myself. And if I think that I've done a mistake, I'll say it to Alex, but for now, I don't think I did.”
Tricky spot
Reflecting on how things played out at the time, Leclerc said he was well aware of the position of Albon’s car – but he felt he had done enough to still have the right to the full corner.
“It was very much on the limit and I was aware of that inside the car,” he said.
“Obviously, I went into the corner, and I knew that it was going to be one of those ones that is going to be very tricky.
“But once you go for the braking point, then there's no way to back off anymore, and that was not my intention. I obviously wanted to try and keep that position, and I've done my best.
“Was it over the limit or not? I will check back the footage, but yeah, I mean I gave it all. I knew that I had to with the tyres I was on at that time, that I couldn't leave anything [on the table].”
Albon, who lost a position to Lewis Hamilton as the result of being pushed wide by Leclerc, did not seem too agitated by how things had played out.
“Honestly, when I look at the battle with Charles…I would have done the same in his position,” he said. “I don't think he did anything that crazy.
“It's just someone trying to hold their position, and obviously I just lost out to Lewis.
“I was just thinking about it: could I have done something better? Being a bit more patient with Charles and see if I could get him a little bit later?
“But at that point in the race, honestly, I was feeling so good, I thought ‘Oscar's up ahead on worn tyres, I can go after him and maybe get a P3’.”
The need for change?
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner suggested recently that drivers should consult with the FIA about perhaps revising the driver guidelines a bit because there were too many rules in place.
This came after Verstappen bemoaned the fact that the racing no longer seemed natural - even though he himself doesn’t know what the perfect solution is.
“We have been changing a lot of bits left and right always,” he said. “And it’s never good. So, honestly, for me, the more natural you leave it, the better from how we grew up in karting and stuff.
“I think when you add too many rules it becomes too complicated.”
Leclerc feels that there perhaps has to be an acceptance that there is unlikely to be a situation where the rules will please all competitors.
“I don't think we will ever have a situation where everybody's happy,” he said. “That's my honest view on it.
“I think there will always be someone unhappy about it. I think it's very, very difficult to please everyone and I don't think we'll ever find that sweet spot. So I think we've got to accept it.
“When you are penalised for something, you've just got to accept it. There will never be a rulebook that describes absolutely every situation and. even if there is. it would be impossible for us to remember all those rules for those different situations.”
Photo: Daniele Roversi
