Charles Leclerc takes ‘harsh’ approach after critical Baku error

Charles Leclerc has stated he “paid the price” for his qualifying
crash at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Leclerc was one of six drivers
who found the barrier during Saturday's grid-setting session, with
his shunt coming during his first lap in Q3. It cemented his
starting position in 10th place for the grand prix, and the
Monégasque could do little to progress forward, crossing the line
in ninth place. With team-mate Hamilton taking the chequered flag
just one position ahead of him, the weekend was a poor return for
Ferrari, who have now slipped to third in the constructors'
championship. "It was a bit of a roll of the dice to get the right
strategy,” said Leclerc, who stopped on lap 19 to swap his medium
tyres for the hard compound. “The medium-hard or hard-medium was
kind of the same. I mean, it was obviously the same on paper. "And
then you will just hope that you were with the most amount of fast
cars on the same strategy.” As was the case with various drivers,
Leclerc got stuck in a DRS train with other cars and was unable to
move forward. The 27-year-old pinned the blame for the
disappointing result solely on himself, stating it sprouted from
his crash on Saturday.   “I ended up with Liam [Lawson], who was
very strong in the straight, very strong in the last sector, and
very difficult to overtake, even on the cars that had reverse
strategy,” he said. “I got stuck behind him the whole race. So it
was very frustrating, but a good job for him. "And at the end of
the day, the only thing I can do is to be harsh with myself and
having not performed the way I should have in qualifying, obviously
with a mistake in Q3. “It’s been a very strong season so far, but
[in Baku] I haven't been on the level where I should be and I paid
the price for it."