Leclerc's out in France: Heavy breathing for a few seconds, then a long scream of anger

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Ferrari debacle in Le Castellet: Charles Leclerc angrily gets out of his car, which has landed in the tire wall

Photo: IMAGO/MARC DE MATTIA / IMAGO/PanoramiC

"Nooooooooooo!":

"You have to put pressure on now, Leclerc didn't come in," Max Verstappen was instructed from his pits on lap 18 of the French Grand Prix after the Red Bull driver got fresh tires.

His fiercest World Cup competitor, Charles Leclerc, was still in the lead.

But the radio message proved to be invalid only moments later when the Ferrari driver lost control of his car in turn eleven, slid over the run-off zone and hit the tire barriers.

Leclerc was asked over the radio if he was okay.

First there was scolding, then long seconds of heavy breathing, then a long angry scream.

The result:

Is unpleasant from Ferrari's point of view: The Scuderia was missing on the podium in Le Castellet, instead defending champion Verstappen celebrated his seventh win of the season in front of the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

Read the race report here.

The start:

It initially looked good for Leclerc.

The Monegasse was able to defend his lead after the traffic lights went out in front of Verstappen, behind him Hamilton Sergio Pérez grabbed the Red Bull and was the new third.

Verstappen then put pressure on Leclerc, but couldn't get past.

When Verstappen turned towards the pits and then rejoined in seventh place, the long-distance duel ended faster than it had started.

"Is he okay?" Verstappen radioed.

Leclerc was unharmed, at least physically.

"This is unacceptable"

: It is still unclear what exactly caused the failure.

In the video you can hear how Leclerc initially complained about technical problems.

The tires had already degraded at the time.

In a Sky interview, however, Leclerc took the blame.

“I tried to push and lost the rear end.

That's unacceptable,' he said.

"If we lose the World Cup by 32 points, then I know where that comes from," he said, also listing Imola when he spun and lost seven points as a result.

Ferrari out of concept:

After the race was released again, Verstappen confidently defended first place in front of Hamilton.

Lecler's stable rival Carlos Sainz made his way through the field.

The Spaniard had had parts on the engine replaced in the past few days and was handed a penalty that put him at the bottom of the grid.

He was third with twelve laps to go, but suffered a five-second penalty when changing tires and ended up fifth: After a stop on lap 18, the team had let him drive off dangerously early after a tire change, and Williams driver Alexander Albon had to slam on the brakes in the pit lane.

Apparently, the Scuderia crew was still shocked by Leclerc's exit a few laps earlier.

Pérez too:

After Sainz had found himself in ninth place after his stop, Russell sensed his chance for the podium and attacked Pérez in front of him.

It came into contact, Toto Wolff radioed reassuring words to his driver.

"You do it on the track," said the Mercedes team boss - and was right.

After a virtual safety car phase, the Mercedes driver reacted faster and passed Pérez before the start and finish (lap 51).

Pérez tried to reclaim his position but failed.

Club of the 300:

In the 300th race of his Formula 1 career, record world champion Lewis Hamilton achieved his best result of the year in a Mercedes in second place.

Hamilton is only the sixth pilot overall to break the 300 mark.

The record holder is Finn Kimi Raikkonen, who retired last season, with 349 Grand Prix starts.

However, Fernando Alonso could replace him this year (345 starts).

Rubens Barrichello (322), Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button (306 each) are ahead of Hamilton.

"I didn't know that at all," Hamilton replied on Thursday when asked whether his 300th start was anything special for him.

Ultimately, however, he probably was: For the first time, the Silver Arrows stood together on the podium in 2022.

Heat - and nothing to drink:

The podium was hard-fought.

A defective drinking bottle had caused problems for Hamilton in the heat (the asphalt temperatures had been well over 50 degrees).

After his run to second place, he took a seat on a stool in the waiting room for the award ceremony.

Then the exhausted record world champion lay down on the ground with his knees bent and watched the highlights of the French Grand Prix on a screen from there.

Verstappen on the way to the next title:

It was clear in advance that the high-speed Circuit Paul Ricard course would suit the Red Bull.

However, Verstappen had not agreed that he would have such an easy game.

“We wanted to stay calm, we pitted earlier.

The car was fast and it's unfortunate for Charles.

From then on I drove my race.« The Dutchman can remain calm, he was able to extend his championship lead to 63 points.

For Leclerc it was the third failure of the season - too much to seriously get involved in the title fight.

The last World Championship race before the short summer break is scheduled for next Sunday in Budapest.