Charles Leclerc has received an apology from Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft following an unfortunate bout of commentator’s curse on Saturday at the Miami Grand Prix, as the Monegasque crashed out of Q3.
Turn 8 at the Miami International Autodrome certainly hasn’t been Leclerc’s friend this weekend, with the 25-year-old having crashed twice at the challenging corner.
The Ferrari driver found himself in the barrier with just over 1:30 remaining in Q3, whilst his lap had been followed live by the TV directors.
It meant Croft was on hand to commentate over the Monegasque’s first sector, where he labelled how “epic” the Ferrari driver looked.
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Seconds later, Leclerc was in the barrier, resulting in a red flag and the end of qualifying.
“And doesn’t that look absolutely epic, that Ferrari…” Croft began saying as Leclerc swept through the first sector, before he lost the rear of his car at Turn 8.
“Oh no! Oh, that’s not epic at all! Charles Leclerc into the barriers and that is the end of his qualifying!” Croft shouted.
With Leclerc having quickly gotten out of the car without injury, some did see the comical side of the commentator’s curse, with the timing of Croft’s commentary having been exceptional.
Croft actually apologised to Leclerc on social media after seemingly cursing the driver; however, he did note that the lap was “epic up to that point”.
Croft later took to Twitter to apologise to Leclerc: “Yep, Commentators Curse strikes again!! Sorry @Charles_Leclerc, but it was epic up to that point.”
Leclerc took full responsibility for the crash, which was caused by nothing more than driver error, something which is becoming an increasing occurrence of his driving.
He openly admitted that he’s not driving at “the level where I want to be” and that he needs to stop going over the limit, especially with qualifying typically being his “strong point”.
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“Qualifying is my strong point. And obviously, I am taking more risks in Q3. That pays off nine times out of 10,” Leclerc said after the session.
“But this is a weekend where twice, I put it in the wall. And this is just not the level where I want to be.
“I wanted that car to be very tricky, because I knew that’s the way you need to drive this car. And today, it was too much.”