Charles Leclerc faced the wrath of thousands of booing fans after the Mexican Grand Prix, but told them he had “nowhere to go” during the Turn 1 melee that ended in disaster for their idol Sergio Perez.
Leclerc had started from pole but the Ferrari was quickly caught by Max Verstappen on his right and Perez on his left as the group barreled down three-wide into the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez’s Turn 1.
Sandwiched between the two Red Bull drivers, Leclerc was defenseless when Perez veered into the corner and tagged the Ferrari’s left front wheel, a move that sent the Mexican airborne and off the track, and ultimately into retirement, much to the ire of the partisan crowd of ‘Checo’ supporters.
Leclerc survived to finish third behind Verstappen and Hamilton, but during the post-race interviews held in the Foro Sol stadium, there was no love given to the Monegasque.
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"A lot of booing... Guys, I mean, honestly, I had nowhere to go,” he said as pleaded with the crowd.
"I was a bit in between the two Red Bulls and unfortunately I touched Checo, but I had nowhere to go. So, it's life.
"It damaged my car. And unfortunately, it ended the race of Checo. But yeah, on our end we maximized our race, so it's life.
"Of course, I'm disappointed to end the race of Checo like that, but I really didn't do it on purpose. I had nowhere to go,” he repeated.”
With almost half of the race completed, the event was red flagged following a massive crash by Kevin Magnussen that required an extensive clean-up period.
Up until then, Leclerc appeared to settle for a runner-up spot behind Verstappen. But a restart on the hard tyre proved challenging for the Scuderia charger who succumbed after five laps to an attack by Lewis Hamilton.
"We struggled a little bit with the hard after the restart," he said. "Lewis was really quick on the medium and then they managed to have a really good degradation.
“So yeah, they were just better today and it's life."
Perez's collision with Leclerc had inflicted damage to the Ferrari's front wing, which drew the attention of the stewards who investigated the Scuderia driver for allegedly driving a car in an unsafe condition.
However, upon the FIA's post-race review, no further action was taken.
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