– Charles Leclerc has somewhat backtracked after the criticism of Kimi Antonelli and toned down his heated statements on the radio: “I was maybe a bit harsh, because of the adrenaline in the car,” says the Ferrari driver after his third place in the Formula 1 sprint in Miami.
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In this, the Monegasque had strongly complained about Antonelli after an intense opening phase: “Kimi is so bad in duels. He moved over while braking, it’s unbelievable. We are going to crash,” he says.
Antonelli, after a weak start where he fell from second to fourth place, tried to make up ground and hunt down the leading McLarens. However, Leclerc was still between him and the two Papaya cars, against whom he raced quite aggressively.
“Sometimes it’s just a bit too close for my liking and actually not necessary,” Leclerc tries to explain afterwards. “In this particular case, I was quite angry in the car, but the comments were probably a bit too harsh.”
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“It’s true that we have had our moments with Kimi in the past, and I hope that calms down a bit in the future,” he continues. After all, Antonelli is the only Italian driver in the field and races against Italy’s national pride Ferrari. “I wish it had been someone else. And I also like Kimi very much as a person,” Leclerc emphasizes.
The Ferrari driver ultimately finished the sprint race in third place because he was able to keep Antonelli behind him. Antonelli, meanwhile, originally finished fourth but received a five-second time penalty afterwards for repeatedly exceeding track limits.
As a result, Antonelli dropped behind Mercedes teammate George Russell and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen to sixth place.
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