Palmer strict on Leclerc: "Most dangerous thing you can do in an F1 car"
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Charles Leclerc spun during the Spanish Grand Prix when his engine stalled after riding over the kerbs. He was able to get away in the end but dropped out one lap later when he came into the pits to fasten his seatbelt again. Jolyon Palmer didn't like the young Ferrari driver's actions.
It will also have come as a surprise to Leclerc that he got the Ferrari working again after that technical problem. He had already unfastened his seatbelt at that time. A fact that escaped him for a moment when he drove off, because he didn't dive into the pits right away. Instead, he drove an entire lap with his seatbelt unfastened.
Danger is around every corner
So Palmer thinks that's quite a stupid action. "Driving a lap with seatbelts undone in Formula 1 seems like the most dangerous think you could possibly do,” he told the Checkered Flag podcast of the BBC. "You can't drive in a 30-kilometre zone without a seatbelt, let alone at 250 km/h while nineteen other cars are driving around you."
“It’s a really sketchy thing, things could break on the car, you never know what could put you into the wall. If you’re not wearing a seatbelt, you are strapped in, but it’s not going to stop you impaling yourself on the steering wheel.”