McLaren Boss Reveals How Charles Leclerc Ruined Lando Norris’ Race at the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc and the endplate incident during the Japanese Grand Prix’s opening lap, has received more backlash during this week. McLaren’s boss Andreas Seidl complained that the incident had jeopardized their chances.

“We are not at all pleased that our competitors are driving their cars on the track while the complete endplate is hanging on the ground,” Andreas Seidl said in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com. “You have put everyone in danger with that”, he continued.

“When that part(endplate) of the Ferrari fell off, a piece landed in the brake duct at Lando(Norris), causing the temperature to go through the roof and we had to bring it in to clean the place”, fumed the Mclaren Boss. “The race was done for him”. 

Charles Leclerc broke the left front endplate of his f1 car, in a second corner clash with Max Verstappen at the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka last week, and the part was dragged along the ground for the entirety of the opening lap.

F1’s race director, Michael Masi had safety concerns about the endplate breaking off. However it was Ferrari‘s decision and they advised him that Charles Leclerc would be pitted at the end of the second lap. The endplate’s flying debris hit Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes car, and in the process ripped off his right hand side mirror. The pieces also ended up in the front brake duct of Lando Norris’s McLaren.

There have been talks of implementing more stringent rules in the future and this incident might just add fuel to the fire.“We will definitely talk to the race management to understand why they acted like that”, said Andreas Seidl. “”If such a large component is loose, it seems to me that there should be no tolerance whatsoever to continue driving full throttle”, he added.