F1 News
"They put me in the position to fight for a win and I put everything in the bin"
Charles Leclerc has added the 2019 German Grand Prix as another race where he could have achieved his first Formula 1 victory. Leclerc fell victim to coffin corner, turn 16, where he ran wide and onto the slippy drag strip. At least five other drivers visited the gravel during the race.
Before the mistake, the Ferrari driver was about to take the lead. He praised the Ferrari strategy as he felt it put him in a position to win the race.
"[In the race] they did everything right – strategy was amazing. They put me in the position to fight for a win and I put everything in the bin. So I feel sorry for them and for the fans that supported me." Leclerc told the Formula 1 website.
"We were very quick. I'm very sorry – being sorry doesn't mean anything in these moments because it's too late – but [I'm] feeling sorry for the fans, for the team in general. It's just a shame. It was a great race until then, I think everything went pretty smooth and one mistake was enough to put everything in the bin and that's what happened."
The run-off area at turn 16 is an actual drag strip. With the oil that the drag cars spill combined with the heavy rain, the corner was very slippy and any mistake was punished. Lewis Hamilton made a similar error just after Leclerc, but Hamilton got away with just a broken nose. But the subsequent pit stop and penalty cost him a decent point finish.
Leclerc branded the drag strip as "unacceptable" in an interview with Sky Sports.