I’m so stupid, says Leclerc after crash

F1 ace left fuming after Baku blunder

CHARLES LECLERC, the new fizzing star of Formula One, cursed himself into the chilly Baku night after pranging his Ferrari as he was poised to take pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

And even though Lewis Hamilton was only second quickest in a chaotic qualifying session, six-hundredths of a second behind his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, the Briton could afford to smile as the Scuderia’s challenge once more parted in front of him like a Red Sea.

Sebastian Vettel was only third quickest. He is out of sorts and short of mojo.

But it was Leclerc’s smash that provided the early evening’s most memorable moment, when he caught the kerb around the narrow castle section and careered into the barriers on the other side.

Unharmed by the low-speed impact, he banged his hands on the halo of his car in clear frustration.

‘I’m stupid, I’m stupid,’ said the 21-year-old Monegasque, beginning his long period of public self-flagellation.

This is the track on which he conjured up some of the most remarkable drives of his pre-Formula One career, not least in winning in F2 a few days after the death of his father, Herve. And he had dominated practice this weekend. He was set for glory over one lap. Before his hopes went splat. After being driven back to the paddock, he went straight to the pit wall to apologise for his error. He then took to Twitter, saying: ‘No excuses. I’ve been useless.’

In case we were in any doubt about his exasperation levels, he told Sky: ‘I deserve what happened today. For the next three or four hours I will be beating myself up. After FP1, FP2 and FP3 and Q1, pole was possible and I threw all the potential in the bin. I’m very disappointed and will come back stronger.

‘I braked as much as I did on the soft tyres but I was on the medi- ums and locked up. It’s not a problem with the tyres; it’s just me. I will learn from this and hopefully have a very good race tomorrow.’

The accident meant Leclerc qualified 10th but he is likely to move up a place because Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi is taking an engine penalty.

Back at the Ferrari garage John Elkann, the new company chairman wearing tiger-print loafers of which his grandfather Gianni Agnelli might have been proud, shook his head at Leclerc’s miscalculation.

There was a long delay as marshals brushed the debris away. The sun dipped over the walls of the 12th Century castle. It was now well gone 6.15pm and this was the second major delay after Robert Kubica had put his Williams into the same barrier early on. Sunset was 7.31pm.

With both the Leclerc and Kubica pauses, the session finished just before five to seven, some 55 minutes late.

Hamilton knew how miserable Leclerc felt. ‘I would be the same,’ said the quintuple world champion. ‘That is how we are tuned as racing drivers when it is your mistake. We are tough on ourselves. It’s painful. In years gone by I didn’t come out of my room for two or three days when I had an experience like that. It’s cool that he is open about it so he can get it out of his system before tomorrow.’

Sad to report that Kubica’s return to Formula One is not working out well. Among the very finest drivers of his generation before a rally accident largely robbed him of the use of his right arm, the Pole is now struggling.

His error yesterday was yet another blow for Williams, who are not only lamentably slow this season but endured the setback of Britain’s George Russell wrecking his car by going over a manhole on Friday.

Russell qualified 19th quickest and Kubica bottom of the pile. Russell has out-qualified his team-mate in all four grand prix weekends this season – a promising start to the 21-year-old’s career.

The same hurrahs should be sounded for his compatriot Lando Norris, who had a good day in his McLaren, beating the more experienced Carlos Sainz on the other side of the garage, seventh place versus 11th.

‘I guess it’s a good sign when you are mildly frustrated after the results we had today,’ said Norris, self-criticism evidently being a theme of the day.