Victim of a 60 g crash at Monza, Charles Leclerc reassured about his health before Madrid. The Ferrari driver nevertheless admits to having been seriously shaken.
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Charles Leclerc will indeed be able to take the wheel this weekend in Madrid, just a few days after his impressive accident during the Italian Grand Prix. The Monegasque confirmed that the various medical examinations carried out after his 60 g impact revealed no issues likely to call into question his participation in the next race.
The Ferrari driver had lost control of his SF-26 in the Parabolica before violently hitting the tire wall. After exiting his destroyed single-seater alone, Leclerc remained seated in the grass waiting for the medical team to intervene. He later revealed having briefly experienced a vision problem.
Some neck pain after the accident
Asked before the first Grand Prix held on the Madring, Leclerc explained that he did not suffer significant aftereffects in the days following his accident. Some pain did appear in his neck the day after.
“No, not to the point of preventing me from driving. I felt tension and a bit of pain in my neck on Monday, but regarding my vision, the problem lasted only a very short time.”
The visual disturbance observed immediately after the impact had caused more concern. Leclerc explained after the race that his vision was initially not perfect when he exited his Ferrari, but the situation quickly returned to normal.
“Just after getting out of the car, one of my eyes might not have been working properly, I’m not really sure. But everything went back to perfectly normal after a few seconds, so I wasn’t particularly worried.”
“I knew it was a big crash”
With an impact measured at 60 g, Leclerc was fully aware of the severity of his accident. Despite the absence of serious injury, the Ferrari driver acknowledges that such an impact necessarily imposes considerable strain on the body.
“I knew it was a big crash and, obviously, it’s never a good thing for the body. But I very quickly regained completely normal vision.”
The Monegasque also points out that there is sometimes a significant difference between the apparent violence of an accident seen from the outside and what the driver actually feels inside the single-seater. This time, however, both impressions matched perfectly.
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“It was quite a significant accident. From the outside, it probably seemed violent, but I can assure you it was also violent from inside the car.”
Leclerc admits to being seriously shaken
It was especially in the moments following his extraction from the Ferrari that Leclerc felt the effects of the accident. The images of the driver sitting in the grass testified to the violence of the impact, even though no serious medical problem was ultimately detected.
“Sometimes, an accident can look very impressive from the outside while everything is fine inside the car. But when I got out, I didn’t feel very well. In reality, it was mainly the shock.”
Ferrari and the doctors took no risks. Leclerc underwent several examinations over the following two days and also received treatment, mainly to relieve the tension felt in his neck.
“I had many examinations and received several treatments during the first two days, especially for my neck because I felt some tension. I guess that’s quite normal after such an accident, but now everything is fine.”
All examinations are reassuring
The main takeaway is therefore reassuring ahead of the Madrid Grand Prix. Despite the severity of the impact and the symptoms felt immediately after the accident, none of the medical checks carried out on Leclerc revealed any particular problem.
“All the examinations I underwent were normal.”
Leclerc can thus approach the discovery of the Madring normally, even if Ferrari will have to turn the page on a particularly difficult Italian weekend. The Monegasque had retired on the second lap after his accident, while Lewis Hamilton had to climb back up to sixth place after being sent into the gravel during their duel at the start.
The Scuderia now hopes to bounce back on a Madrid track whose characteristics could better suit the SF-26. For Leclerc, the priority was however to ensure that no physical consequence of his accident would disrupt this new weekend.
A few days after a 60 g impact that had left him momentarily impaired and with a vision problem, Leclerc wants to reassure: his neck pain has disappeared, his vision is normal, and all his medical examinations revealed no abnormalities.
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