Ferrari Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc crashed out of the Italian Grand Prix, bringing out the red flag after two racing laps at Monza.
At the end of the second lap, Leclerc was defending fourth position from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri when the Ferrari driver suffered a snap of oversteer and lost the rear of his Ferrari through the fast Parabolica right-hander.
Leclerc spun in the outside barriers at high speed, but walked away unhurt. But a safety car turned into a full red flag so race officials could repair the barriers.
It was a huge blow for Ferrari at his home race, which had already suffered a poor start when Leclerc pushed team-mate Lewis Hamilton wide at the start. Hamilton was demoted to eighth, with Mercedes’ George Russell taking over the lead from surprise polesitter Pierre Gasly in the Alpine.
On the team radio Hamilton fumed that “Charles pushed me off”, an incident that was noted by the stewards but no investigation was called for.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images
Drivers are expected to take a standing restart at 15:39 local time, with teams allowed to make a tyre change during the stoppage.
Russell will lead the restart from Gasly, Max Verstappen, Franco Colapinto and Piastri, championship leader Kimi Antonelli worked his way up to 12th after starting down in 19th due to an engine penalty.
Given the severity of the impact, Leclerc headed to the medical centre for precautionary checks, but was cleared and released without injuries.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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