Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc was knocked out of the Dutch Grand Prix by Mercedes rookie driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli. This marks the second DNF for Ferrari, after Lewis Hamilton crashed out on Lap 23.
The incident occurred on Lap 53 of 72 at Turn 3, the same corner where Hamilton crashed out. Leclerc had just swapped to fresh tires, and as he exited the pit lane ahead of Kimi Antonelli, the Mercedes driver tried to overtake on the inside line.
However, Kimi Antonelli understeered at the exit of the turn and took out the Monegasque driver’s Ferrari, spinning his SF-25 aggressively. Antonelli was handed a 10-second penalty for causing the incident. He also received a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Leclerc’s teammate, the seven-time world champion, crashed out while chasing his former teammate George Russell. However, at the exit of the banked corner at Turn 3, when light rain started to fall, Hamilton went wide and spun out at the area where the banking levels out. The front right section of his SF-25 suffered heavy damage.
Despite Hamilton’s ongoing challenges at Ferrari, the qualifying round was positive, leading him to secure a P7 race start. Speaking after the qualifying session, the 40-year-old driver said:
“I think this weekend, definitely, we’ve seen progress, and that was the goal. A better approach, and overall, just everything has been more enjoyable, so I’ve definitely enjoyed it. I think I got the most out of the car in pretty much every session.
“I think in that last lap, when I came out of Turn 1, I was already a tenth and a half down. I need to look into why, I can’t remember exactly. But then you’re on the back foot from then on.
“I think today, probably close to P5 would have been possible. With the wind and everything, it’s quite tricky for all of us.”
Leclerc, however, was upset about his qualifying performance after securing a P6 race start. He said:
“I’m very disappointed. It’s more I’m very disappointed with my own performance. I haven’t been very strong this weekend. I’ve been struggling with the car, I’ve been trying to find something that was probably not in the car, and I’ve had to change things from one session to the next all of the time. You don’t really find the consistency or build-up in something.
“On top of that, I didn’t do a good job in Q3, I didn’t put the lap together, so I’m not very happy with my performance. I’m not very happy also with the car performance, but at least we kind of knew that we were going to struggle this weekend. But it is the way it is.”
He added:
“This race is quite specific, and for some reason, I think that this track kind of highlights our weaknesses more than other tracks.”
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