Nico Rosberg slates Charles Leclerc for Imola crash

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

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Rosberg slates Leclerc for Imola crash

Former champion criticises championship leader's spin mistake

Will Gray

Sunday 24 April 2022 17:50

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Nico Rosberg was left flabbergasted by championship leader Charles Leclerc’s simple mistake after a spin late in the race cost him vital points at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Leclerc was closing on the Red Bull of Sergio Perez when he slipped up at the Variante Alta and collided with the barriers, being fortunate to drive back out and recover to finish sixth.

But speaking on Sky Sports F1 former champion Rosberg warned: “Charles Leclerc, oh my God, if you are fighting for a championship against Max Verstappen you just cannot allow yourself to spin out there when you are just driving out there on your own.

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“Yes, he was hunting down Perez but the pressure was on Perez, not on Charles, so to spin like that, my goodness, he has to avoid that for the rest of the season if he wants to win the championship. That was a really tough one.

“There was a clue from Perez in the post-race talk, he said it was a little bit damp in the braking zone, so it might be a bit of an excuse for Charles because it happened in braking.

“He just went in way too fast, he tried to save the situation by cutting more over the inside corner but that then threw him off and put him into the wall. He was still pretty lucky to not to have more damage than that.”

Rosberg - Ferrari made mistake by pitting

Rosberg believes that Ferrari followed Leclerc’s mistake with another slip-up when the team chose to call him into the pits for a new front wing, rather than keeping him out to evaluate the minor damage for longer.

The stop dropped Leclerc down to eighth and while he recovered to finish sixth, and collect eight points, it potentially lost him at least four points and possibly more, which could prove crucial in the championship run-in.

Rosberg added: “Ferrari made a mistake. They should have left him out there for one more lap to see how that front wing was hanging on there because it looked fine structurally.

“It was just the right-hand side flap that was missing, so that would have been ok to still finish at least fourth in the race, so I think Ferrari did a small mistake there.”