Ferrari boss reveals Kimi Antonelli apologised for taking out Charles Leclerc

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli apologised to Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur for wiping out Charles Leclerc at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Antonelli crashed into Leclerc as the pair battled for position during Sunday’s dramatic race at Zandvoort, causing the Ferrari driver to spin into the Turn 3 barriers and suffer race-ending damage.

The 18-year-old Italian was hit with a 10-second time penalty for the incident, which, combined with a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane, dropped him from sixth to 16th.

Speaking to media including Crash.net on Sunday evening in the Zandvoort paddock, Vasseur revealed Antonelli paid him a visit to apologise.

"He came to apologise to Charles. Charles was not there, but he came to me. And honestly I appreciate this," Vasseur said.

"It's not so easy to overtake in Zandvoort. It means that you have to take a risk. He took a risk. He made a mistake.”

Leclerc put all the blame on Antonelli for their collision.

“It was a mistake from Kimi,” Leclerc said. “I wouldn't describe it as a rookie mistake. I think it's just a mistake which can happen in the first year or the fifth year.

“On a track like this you need to be aggressive [to overtake], but that was too much.”

The incident compounded a miserable day for Ferrari, with Lewis Hamilton also crashing out as the team suffered a double DNF.

Kimi Antonelli takes responsibility

Antonelli, whose driving was slammed by 1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, held his hands up for the risky move on Leclerc.

“It’s a shame because the race was looking good, the pace was very strong and we were coming back and, yeah, I tried,” he said.

“It didn’t feel like I overshot massively, it was a bit unfortunate because, while I was trying to keep it tight, it came a bit down from the banking and that was the moment when the contact happened.

“It was a shame, I feel sorry because obviously it’s not nice to take someone out. At least [there were] some positives today, and we move forward.”

Antonelli has still scored just a single point on European soil in what is turning out to be a challenging rookie F1 season.