“Slightly unwell” Leclerc ends practice early in troubled start for Ferrari

2021 Italian Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

Both Ferrari drivers encountered problems in the final practice session ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc pulled his car into the pits with five minutes left to run in a session which had already been shortened. He had told his team “I need to stop” after concluding his previous lap, adding “I cannot explain here.”

A spokesperson for the team said “we cut his session a few minutes short as he was feeling slightly unwell”. They did not indicate whether his participation in this afternoon’s sprint qualifying session was in doubt. However driver changes are only permitted before second practice in sprint qualifying weekends.

Leclerc had already lost running earlier in the session – along with the other drivers – as team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr crashed heavily at Ascari. Following preliminary checks Sainz was said to be unhurt, but he will undergo further inspections ahead of sprint qualifying.

Sainz’s second Saturday crash in as many race weekends came on his 15th lap of the day and left the front end of the Ferrari heavily damaged. The team is “working flat out, aiming to get Carlos’ car ready for sprint qualifying”, said the spokesperson.

The drivers claimed the fourth row of the grid for sprint qualifying, Sainz ahead of Leclerc. The latter encountered power unit problems in qualifying which led the team to re-fit his original hardware from the beginning of the season.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2021 Italian Grand Prix

Browse all 2021 Italian Grand Prix articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

8 comments on ““Slightly unwell” Leclerc ends practice early in troubled start for Ferrari”

  1. Hope he is doing ok and nothing serious.

  2. Ferrari can’t catch a break at their home race weekend, can they?!
    Yesterday the engine braking issues on Leclerc’s car, then Sainz’s heavy crash in practice today and now Lecerc could miss the sprint and start from the back tomorrow.
    They couldn’t have picked a worse race weekend for this to happen.

    1. @srga91 Yeah that’s bizarre

  3. He found the remainings of the squirrel… :(

  4. Doesn’t seem to be the best of weekends for the Scuderia and to make matters worse Danny Ric seems to have found his mojo back – at least on Monza.

    Carlos’ speed in the Ferrari has been promising from the start, but he does seem to be crashing out a lot. I hope this doesn’t affect his confidence going into the race.

    It sounded to me like Charles was in need of a bathroom break. Issues with the car all weekend and now some physical discomfort as well; the racing gods are not favouring him at the Temple of Speed. Give it your best, Charlie!

  5. We’ve all been there Charles.

    1. @jazz Loose stool? ;)

  6. I hope there’ll be at least 1 Ferrari on the track…

Comments are closed.