This Thursday, ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian GP, Sebastian Vettel announced on his newly launched Instagram account that he will retire from F1 at the end of the 2022 season.
The news prompted words of praise from his colleagues on the grid and from the world of motorsport in general, and Leclerc , with whom he shared a team at Ferrari, also spoke at the Hungaroring of his admiration for Vettel.
Leclerc suffered an accident while leading last week’s French GP and is already 63 points behind his main title rival Max Verstappen.
On Thursday, while discussing his fond memories of his former teammate, Charles Leclerc revealed that Vettel texted him after the race at Paul Ricard to give him support after his crash.
“There are a lot of moments, but it’s definitely not an on-track moment,” Leclerc replied when asked by Motorsport.com what his favorite memories with Vettel are from their time as teammates at Ferrari.
“It’s all the moments in the factory and the way our relationship has also evolved over the years, because I came in the first year and I was super impressed.
“And I think it was probably weird for him because he was shy and I didn’t know what to say around him.”
“But he’s a friend and he’s always texting me, like he did after Sunday, and always trying to make me feel better when I’m having a hard time.”
“So it’s nice to see how much I’ve grown since I met him.”
Leclerc admitted at the time that his accident at Paul Ricard was a mistake, and now insists that he doesn’t stop there, as it wouldn’t help him.
“Well, I need to,” he added when asked how he got over the accident. “There’s nothing to help me by dwelling on my mistake or dwelling on the past about that mistake.”
“I made a mistake, it cost me a lot of points, I’m aware of that. And that’s it.”
“Now I just need to keep going, focus 100% on this weekend, try to do my best, try to win this race and I’m sure it will go well then.”
Charles Leclerc also wanted to rule out any theory that his accident was caused by external factors, noting: “I really hate to say ‘oh, it was the wind or a bird’ that caused the accident.”
“I’m the one driving the car, and I made a mistake. Sure, yes, the conditions change a little bit every lap, and that’s for everyone.”
“Obviously it’s more difficult when you’re on the edge, but I think everyone is on the edge.”
Leclerc’s initial radio message when he crashed suggested he had a problem with his accelerator pedal, although the team later clarified that he was simply talking about his troubles getting into reverse to get out of the barriers.
On the theories that emerged regarding his accident, Leclerc said: “I understood that there were doubts, but it is that the torque is limited in the first gear”.
“So, I was talking about that, not anything from before. There was nothing wrong with the car.”
