Charles Leclerc had an amazing start to the weekend in Mexico when he put his Ferrari on pole, lining up first on the grid for Sunday’s race. The weekend before that, he was disqualified along with Lewis Hamilton due to rule infringements but he bounced even stronger in Mexico.
Charles had started the Mexico GP hoping for a potential win from his SF23, which had a good pace. Unfortunately, he was struck by Sergio Perez in turn 1, immediately causing him to take damage and lose his front wing upon impact. It seems that the stewards took note on this incident and wanted to investigate Leclerc.
How did Charles Leclerc maintain his standing despite the FIA investigation?
The stewards raising their concerns was a nightmare for Charles’s fans because of the disqualification earlier and they were sincerely hoping that Charles would get to keep his podium. It seems like the prayers were heard and Charles is still third in the race. Now, we come to the question: How did Charles Leclerc evade a penalty?
It all started when Leclerc was under the danger of a black-orange flag. Leclerc had a damaged wing, which could cause the FIA to deem his car unsafe and forcibly make him pit for a safer option. Leclerc was hanging on desperately, losing downforce from his wing but Ferrari breathed a sigh of relief when the end plate finally detached, helping them gain an opportunity to change his front wing under red flag conditions.
This shrewd behavior from Ferrari made the stewards summon them post race and the team sought video proofs and various excuses too justify running the car, i.e., their data suggested that Charles’s Ferrari was safe to race without a pit stop.
Charles Leclerc shares thoughts on crash with Sergio Perez
Charles Leclerc secured P3 in a drama-packed race and he considered his performance good enough for the day. However, he was disappointed that he couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities and get a higher finish than P3.
Charles was booed due to his contact with Checo, which ended Checo’s race unfortunately and while being interviewed, he pointed out the disapproval of fans while justifying his own conditions: “A loot of booing, I mean honestly I had nowhere to go so I was sandwiched between the two Red Bulls… and unfortunately, I touched Checo. I had to nowhere to go and it basically damaged my car, and unfortunately it ended the race of Checo but on our end we maximized our race. It’s life, of course I am disappointed to end the race of Checo like that but I really didn’t do it on purpose.”
The booing for Charles Leclerc has only solidified the toxic nature of some fans, raising a huge question: as Max Verstappen pointed out ‘disrespect’, do you think FIA should be working on such type of behavior? What can be done to stop these fans? Tell us what you think in the comments.
