Charles Leclerc has had his fair share of good moments in the streets of Baku. He won at the track when he was racing in F2. But since he entered F1, he has had a mixed bag of results in Baku. The Ferrari driver had one of his most infamous moments in the sport when crashed at the castle section in 2019.
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Leclerc berated himself for the crash and called himself stupid for crashing and throwing away a chance to secure pole position. Since then there have been a lot of memes made of that moment.
During the race preview, an F1 TV journalist even poked fun at him while describing the track layout. “It’s all 90-degree bends, and walls that Charles Leclerc is going to crash into,” said the journalist. The comments did not go well with the Leclerc fans, and they took to social media to point out the moment.
I want to see the great Sam Collins drive a race car around a circuit once. @F1 show some respect to your own drivers.
— Adarsh Kannan (@adarsh1904) June 10, 2022
What makes this even worse is that Charles is possibly the politest and most humble driver on the grid, and never speaks a word against anyone else.
He’s a genuine role model for how a respectful sportsperson should be, and yet still people make these comments.
— Ferrari News 🐎 (@FanaticsFerrari) June 10, 2022
So uncalled for…?
— Meg Pembleton (@Megpembleton) June 10, 2022
No they are not, they are supposed to be professional. That is not professional or entertaining. He needs to go.
— Marko Kupilainen (@Kupilainen) June 11, 2022
What on earth is this?
“It’s all 90 degree bends, and walls that Charles Leclerc is going to crash into.”
These are meant to be professional journalists for the official F1TV channel, and they make these comments against a driver?
It’s disgraceful.
pic.twitter.com/zApVNS8tKe— Ferrari News 🐎 (@FanaticsFerrari) June 10, 2022
Professionalism at its finest by F1 media https://t.co/wK2ErBBlC0
— Out of Context Mattia Binotto (@OfMattia) June 10, 2022
Well, the reactions from the fans could have been a bit extreme. But do you think Sam Collins was right to take that dig at Leclerc?
READ MORE: WATCH: Charles Leclerc Suffers a Scary Crash During the Italian Grand Prix
Charles took pole position in Baku last year, but in 2019, he was livid with himself. He even called himself useless after the qualifying session for his mistake in Turn 8.
Charles Leclerc expresses his disappointment after crashing in Baku 2019
The Ferrari‘s incredible straight-line speed, Leclerc was the favorite to secure pole position heading into qualifying. But his crash ruined his chances to get the top spot on the grid. He then took to the team radio to blame himself for the crash.
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“I deserve what happened today and I’m very sad for what happened but I deserve it, I’ve been stupid, as I said on the radio. I’ve calmed down but I still think I’ve been stupid. This doesn’t change. I will push to learn from this and come back stronger and hopefully have a very good race tomorrow. But yeah, yeah, I deserve it.”
“I don’t want to say anything stupid but I think after looking at FP1, FP2, FP3, and Q1, the pole was possible today, and I threw all the potential in the bin. So, I am very disappointed and I’ll come back stronger from this,” said Leclerc.
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WATCH THE STORY: Biggest Crashes From 2020 Featuring Leclerc, Vettel & Grosjean
In 2022, the Monegasque driver will have the opportunity to take back-to-back pole positions in Baku. Can he manage it? Let’s wait and see.