Leclerc addresses collision with Norris: "I didn't mean to drive into him"

Red Bull Racing/Red Bull Content Pool

BARCELONA, Spain — Charles Leclerc clarified following an on-track incident with Lando Norris during final practice on Saturday, stating that he did not intend to collide with the McLaren driver. The incident unfolded when Leclerc, trying to get off the racing line, accidentally made contact with Norris' car.

Leclerc had to abort a timed lap as Norris, ahead of him, had slowed down. In an attempt to avoid impeding the cars behind him, Leclerc also slowed, leading to the unfortunate wheel-to-wheel contact with Norris.

Despite the incident, Norris later clinched pole position. Television cameras captured a conversation between Norris and Max Verstappen, where Verstappen informed Norris that Leclerc had only received a reprimand for the mishap. "My front wing was completely f------. Crazy!" Norris exclaimed, still perplexed by the occurrence.

The race stewards chose not to penalize Leclerc, concluding that the Ferrari driver had simply misjudged the situation. Leclerc offered his perspective, explaining: "Yeah, well, I mean the version is very simple. Lando exited the pit lane and I was behind on a push lap. Then when he aborted, I also aborted, I braked to be alongside him and I misjudged. So I was on the right, I didn't want to impede either of the cars behind, and so I was a bit in the middle by being frustrated and looking in the mirrors to try and not impede, and then we collided, but it was more misunderstanding more than anything."

When questioned if he was deliberately gesturing at Norris, Leclerc clarified, "No, no, no, I mean you're always frustrated when you do that, but you never want to touch because obviously in FP3 that's the least thing you want to do to damage the car, well my car first of all, because I've got qualifying right after. So it's never the goal, but yeah."

This incident added to an eventful day for Norris and the McLaren team, which began with a fire forcing the evacuation of their hospitality unit. One team member was taken to the hospital as a precaution. Despite the setbacks, Norris' remarkable performance in qualifying keeps McLaren's hopes and spirits high.

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