Leclerc lost the rear of his car at turn 22 towards the end of the second practice session for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and hit the guardrail at high speed.
The session was immediately marked with a red flag, but Leclerc was able to get out of the car unaided and told his Ferrari team that he was fine. He underwent routine medical examinations before the doctors gave the all-clear.
Ferrari said after the session that they would check Leclerc’s chassis and drive unit to see if they could be fixed in time for Saturday, and later confirmed that both could still be driven in FP3 and qualifying.
But the crash still left a heavy workload on the Ferrari crew ahead of Saturday’s race to get Leclerc’s car repaired.
Leclerc finished tenth fastest in FP2 despite his late fall and finished the session seven tenths of a second behind pace maker Lewis Hamilton.
“[It was] a day that unfortunately didn’t end the way I wanted, ”said Leclerc.
“But by and large we went through everything we wanted to test. I think the potential is there and if we put everything together for tomorrow we should have a good day.
“But of course I’m sorry for the team that has to do a great, great job before tomorrow to get the car ready.
“Hopefully I’m doing my job well enough to thank you as best as possible tomorrow with a good result.”
Marshals remove Charles Leclerc’s damaged car, Ferrari SF21, from the track
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
Ferrari is going into the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix this weekend with the chance of finishing third in the constructors’ championship ahead of McLaren with one race to go.
The Italian team are 39.5 points ahead of McLaren in the standings, which means a five-point spike this weekend would give them an unassailable advantage ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
“We don’t want to relax,” Leclerc told Motorsport.com on Thursday in Jeddah.
“In the last two races, I think there is still a lot to learn as a team in order to better optimize my entire package.
“This will indirectly help us for the next year, so we have to keep putting the pressure on.”
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