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Leclerc: I was too greedy, I paid the price

Jad Mallak

Leclerc: I was too greedy, I paid the priceCharles Leclerc took the blame for his costly error at the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, admitting he was driven by greed on a day he did not have the pace to win, ultimately paying the price.

It is very possible, that a moment in the 2022 Formula 1 Championship will come, when Leclerc rues the error he made on lap 53 of the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, throwing away a certain third-place finish, and ultimately finishing sixth, on a day his rival Max Verstappen did not put a foot wrong.

Speaking after the race Leclerc said: “It’s a big shame. Whatever happened before the spin… but it’s part of racing.

“P3 was the best I could do,” he added. “We didn’t have the pace for much more and I was too greedy, and paid the price for it and lost potential points.

“It is a shame, this shouldn’t happen again,” the 24-year-old vowed.

Leclerc is aware that his error in front of the Tifosi might prove to be costly as the Championship fight develops and admitted: “Only time will tell [if this will impact title race].

“For sure, Red Bull seem to be more competitive than the first three races. We had the upper hand in Bahrain and Australia, then they had it here and in Jeddah.

“It is very, very close and I think it will be that way for the rest of the season. It’s a big mistake but considering the mistakes, it could’ve been much bigger,” the Monegasque concluded.

Ferrari had a weekend from hell at Imola

That was a weekend from hell for the Scuderia, who were racing in front of their fans with a competitive car for the first time in years, but the Italians’ celebration will have to take a rain check until Monza, maybe the Reds can redeem themselves there.

Ferrari took a hit with the Carlos Sainz as well, who crashed out in qualifying, recovered in the Sprint Race, only to crash again at the start of Sunday’s race after being hit by Daniel Ricciardo.

It might not have been his fault, but the Spaniard has had his fair share of errors on the weekend the team announced he will stay for two more years.

The Spaniard reflected on his race, saying: “I saw that I didn’t get the best of starts together with Charles, we need to analyse what happened there but we still managed to get cleanly into turn two.

“Daniel went into the curb, I left him plenty of space but he must have lost to front of the car and bumped into me,” he added. “I got stuck yet again in the gravel and there’s nothing I really could have done differently.

“It’s definitely a tough moment,” the 27-year-old from Madrid admitted. “We wanted to do a good race in front of the fans and there were still 63 laps ahead, so to get bumped out of the race in turn two, it is bad.

“There are always these tough moments in the life of a sportsman and today, it is my turn to go through them. As long as I keep working hard, I’m sure the good moments will come,” Sainz concluded.