Charles Leclerc put on a decent performance during Qualifying at the Monaco GP. Unfortunately, Charles was handed a penalty for impeding by getting in the way of Lando Norris while he was in a flying lap.
The onboard camera of the incident from Lando Norris’s McLaren showed that the incident could have been very dangerous. Although both the drivers avoided contact, Charles was handed a penalty. Charles Leclerc received a 3-place grid penalty for the race on Sunday. The penalty will see him start from 6th place in the race behind Carlos Sainz in 4th.
A closer look at the incident between Norris and Leclerc in the tunnel 👀#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/uxp1jIRhq1
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 27, 2023
Later, fans found out that Charles did not receive any warning from his race engineer about Lando Norris coming up fast behind him. Charles Leclerc’s race engineer, Xavi Marcos Padros, should have informed Leclerc about incoming traffic.
This incident angered a lot of fans. Fans went on to express their emotions on social media. Some fans even demanded Xavi be sacked.
Fans react to the incident between Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris
Here are some of the fans’ reactions to the incident between Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris:
Seriously, sack Xavi. I hope they don’t wait for that until he causes accidents. This was a close one, Thank God no one crashed.
— Manna | Chaosis (@13StarsOfHeaven) May 27, 2023
Xavi HAS TO GO, how many times are we gonna have to go through this?
This is so exhausting to go through every weekend. Feels like the team intentionally sabotage our drivers.— Chief Strategist, Scuderia Ferrari (@nicKatttNite) May 27, 2023
Xavi is so bad he told him like 10 secs late man. It does seem like a penalty, and at such a stupid time too. Worst engineer on the grid Jesus, we need someone who speaks more clearly in that spot and actually shares info!
— Paolo Maselli (@PMComet) May 27, 2023
It’s xavi’s fault, not charles. I don’t get why the driver gets penalty when it’s the team’s fault.
— •francesca• (@Frapenzo) May 27, 2023
i really hate that sometimes a driver, whoever that might be, risks/gets penalised for a mistake that it’s not even his but of the track engineer it’s so crazily unfair. Xavier literally told him that norris was pushing after he already was in front of charles😭😭
— chichi🍂 -unfortunately it’s race day at🏡🇲🇨| 16 (@charles_lefast) May 27, 2023
This is not the first time Leclerc’s Ferrari race engineer dropped the ball. We saw Xavi not inform Leclerc about Hamilton pitting under the safety car at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. This led to Leclerc losing position to Hamilton. We also saw a false box call at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2022 that cost Charles Leclerc the victory.
This penalty will go to the history book as yet another incident of Charles Leclerc in Monaco. Monaco is Charles Leclerc’s home Grand Prix. Unfortunately, Charles has never been able to put on an impressive performance here. Out of his last 5 appearances at the Monaco GP, Charles has only completed 1 of them which was in 2022. But 2022 was again a disappointing year for Charles. These performances have led fans to believe that there is a curse around Charles Leclerc during the Grand Prix at Monaco.
This Monaco Grand Prix weekend has also not been the best so far for Leclerc with the penalty. However, Charles is hopeful that he can still win the Grand Prix if he gets a good start. He starts the Grand Prix in 6th place behind his teammate in 4th. Let us now wait and see what result he is able to achieve from here and if he can finally break the Monaco Curse.
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