Leclerc 'too greedy': the spin shouldn't have happened

Charles Leclerc says he paid the price for being "too greedy" in Sunday's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, an excess that resulted in a spin that shaved seven points off the Ferrari driver's expected tally in the race.

The Monegasque was unable to challenge in the 63-lap race the Red Bull duo of race winner Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

But a spot on the podium was Leclerc's to lose, and the Scuderia charger did just that when he made his first mistake of the season and spun at the chicane with ten laps to go while chasing Perez.

Leclerc fortunately managed to get going and limp back to the pits for a new front wing before resuming his in ninth position from where he pulled out the stops to limit his self-inflicted damage to finish sixth.

But after the race, the championship leader wasn't particularly impressed with himself.

"It is a big shame," he said. "Whatever happened before the spin, these are details and it's part of racing.

"I believe that the spin shouldn't have happened today. P3 was the best I could do, we didn't have the pace for much more and I was too greedy, and I paid the price for it and lost seven potential points compared to my third place where I was before.

"It is shame, it's seven points that are valuable at the end of the championship for sure and this shouldn't happen again."

• Read also: Verstappen heads Red Bull 1-2 after Leclerc spins in Imola

Taking stock of Red Bull's superior performance at Imola, Leclerc said that it was too early to tell if Ferrari's main rival had now gained the upper hand.

"It's impossible to know," he said. "We'll see, only time will tell how much of a step they did, but for sure they seem to be much more competitive than the first three races, or similar to Jeddah we'll say.

"We've had the upper hand in Bahrain and in Australia, and they've hand the upper hand this weekend and in Jeddah.

"So, it is very very close and I think it will be that way for the rest of the season, and that is why every small mistake – or this was a big mistake – but actually the consequences considering the mistake could have been much bigger.

"It's only 7 points today but it could cost more the next time. So I need to be careful with that."

Unfortunately, Leclerc's blunder added insult to injury for Ferrari at Imola, with Carlos Sainz retiring on the opening lap of the race after he found himself on the receiving end of a clumsy mistake by McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo who nudged the Spaniard into a spin on the exit of Tamburello and into the gravel trap, sealing his fate.

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