'You look like an idiot': Charles Leclerc reflects on race-ending Monaco crash

Written by Teagan Crump

Charles Leclerc has had mixed results in Monaco- he has known the glory of a win but the heartbreak of a non-finish. 2026 was just not meant to be for the home-hero with him crashing out on Lap 67.

📸: F1

Up until his crash, Charles Leclerc had been having a relatively uneventful race however the Safety Car for Lance Stroll's crash spelled disaster.

Speaking to the media, Leclerc said:

“The data speaks for itself. I don’t know how much I can go into the detail, but it’s extremely frustrating. I think I’ve always been very honest, and no matter how many mistakes I do, I would hate to look at myself in the mirror and see myself finding excuses when I do a mistake. So that’s why I’m always bluntly honest whenever I’m in front of cameras.

“But today I’m not going to take any of it. I touch the brakes and there’s just something with those brakes — on the front brakes, it just brakes a lot more than what I thought, and in the rear brakes, it had no deceleration at all. It’s like I had no rear brakes at all.”

He then went to share some of the struggles that he and Ferrari had been facing:

“And yeah, that’s what I’m dealing with since two races now. We’ve had some differences of brakes in between cars, but I don’t think it’s been a disadvantage for me at all. But here and in Montreal, with cold tyre temperatures, the inconsistency — and then the tyres being a lot more sensitive because you’re on the limit of those tyres — has just been an absolute nightmare.

“And I’m weighing my words. I mean, I don’t have many words. Today I look like an idiot. And when you look like an idiot for a mistake of yours, it’s fine. But it’s borderline dangerous.”

Charles Leclerc was the sixth driver to retire from the Monaco Grand Prix.