Miami F1 News: Ferrari Chief Jumps To Charles Leclerc Defence After Qualifying Blow
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has jumped to Charles Leclerc's defence after his disastrous end to the qualifying session for the Miami Grand Prix.
With just a minute and a half to go of the qualifying session, the Monegasque driver suffered from the same crash that he had during FP2 on Friday, causing a red flag to be put on the session which subsequently ended qualifying.
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Speaking to the media after qualifying, Vasseur defended Leclerc over the incident, he commented:
"When you're fighting for pole, the driver has to push. You can't accuse him of pushing 'too much'. That's how he makes the difference, sometimes the mistake just happens, but I'd rather have him pushing than not.
"I talked to Charles, for sure he is upset in this situation because he had the feeling that the pole was not far away. It is what it is. Now we have to do a reset to understand what we did wrong today and be ready for tomorrow."
Sergio Perez took pole position and will be followed by Fernando Alonso and Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz who will be starting from second and third tomorrow, respectively.
Leclerc's crash scuppered Max Verstappen's last flying lap so he will be starting back from ninth position, whereas, Leclerc was able to put in a faster lap before the crash meaning he will start from seventh.
Leclerc was understandably hard on himself after the crash saying:
"It’s not acceptable, it's not the level I should have.
"This weekend I didn't do the job, two mistakes in the same corner. I'm very disappointed with myself."