Ferrari confirms: Leclerc crash not linked to throttle issue

Ferrari has confirmed that Charles Leclerc's crash in Sunday's French Grand Prix was a driver error and was not caused by a throttle issue as the Monegasque's radio exchange with his team initially suggested.

Leclerc had been leading the race at Paul Ricard since the start from rival Max Verstappen, but when the Red Bull driver took on fresh tyres after 16 laps, the Ferrari driver was on his own, in control of proceedings.

But on lap 18, Leclerc ran wide at the long right-hand Le Beausset corner, his car swapping ends and ploughing nose first into the outside barrier.

The commotion was followed by a loud scream of anger over the radio, as Leclerc rued his costly mistake, his title chances dealt a massive blow.

He then told his team "I cannot go off throttle", which suggested that his crash had perhaps been caused by a repeat of the throttle pedal issue encountered in Austria last time out.

However, that message was misheard or wrongly reported. What Leclerc actually told his team in the heat of the moment was "I cannot go ON throttle", which alluded to his efforts to try and reverse his car out of the tyre barrier.

"First there was no issue with the throttle itself, nothing to do with Austria," explained Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto after the race.

"What happened is a genuine mistake of Charles which are things that may happen, and I think they do not take off how good he is as a driver and as a fantastic driver. But it was a genuine mistake.

"What you heard on the radio was about when he was in reverse gear trying to get out from the barriers. There is a strategy, without going in to all the details, that [meant] he was on the throttle, but didn't feel sufficient torque from the engine. It was nothing wrong. Simply the strategy there."

• Read also: Leclerc owns up to costly French GP mistake

Leclerc himself was quick to own up to his mistake when he faced media.

"Obviously it’s extremely frustrating," he said. "I feel like I’m performing at probably the highest level of my career since the beginning of the season.

"But there’s no point of performing at a very high level if then I do those mistakes."

Binotto said that Leclerc's Austrian Grand Prix throttle issue that had put his win in jeopardy in the closing laps of the race had been resolved.

"Normally we're not discussing much about details on what's happening, but what happened in Austria is very simple," he said.

"There was a damper which was slightly sticky. Not more than that. And we already put in place some actions to avoid it for the future."

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