Charles Leclerc apologises to Ferrari for "very stupid" crash

Charles Leclerc was left in an apologetic mood as he lamented his "very stupid" crash during Friday practice at the F1 Canadian Grand Prix. 

Moments after going fastest in the opening practice session, Leclerc carried too much speed into the second chicane, ran over the grass and clipped the inside wall, before ending up in the Turn 4 barriers. 

The damage sustained to Leclerc's car meant the Monegasque was unable to participate in FP2 and has put him on the back foot heading into the rest of the weekend in Montreal.

Leclerc's incident marked the latest blow in Ferrari's difficult and underwhelming start to the 2025 season, with teammate Lewis Hamilton also suffering a spin on a tricky Friday for the Scuderia. 

“First of all, I feel sorry for the whole team, because obviously that’s never something you want," Leclerc said. 

“It was a very stupid crash – I had a lock-up, I thought I would make the corner… I knew I would go in the grass, but I thought that was enough to not touch the wall. Unfortunately, when I then ended up in the grass, I understood that there was no room anymore.

“It’s just a misjudgment, but a misjudgment that cost a lot. The way the wheel has touched the chassis basically cracked the chassis, and we cannot use two chassis on the same day, so that meant basically the whole day not in the car.

“That hurts because that obviously cost us quite a few laps today, but the very positive thing is that I felt very confident with the car. I think we were very competitive at that time, for whatever it’s worth, because it was only the third [push] lap of the day.”

Leclerc's confidence unaffected 

Despite his costly error resulting in a lack of track time and far from ideal preparation going into qualifying and Sunday's grand prix, Leclerc insisted the crash will not impact his rhythm and confidence. 

“It doesn’t hurt my confidence, and I’m sure that it won’t hurt my weekend at all,” he stressed. 

“I’m sure I’ll be up to speed in Qualifying. How competitive we will be is another matter, and then we’ll have to see. But I’m sure that personally I’ll be 100%.”