"I am stupid" - Looking back at Charles Leclerc's emotional team radio in 2019 F1 Azerbaijan GP

In 2019, Charles Leclerc accidentally crashed into the most difficult corner on the Baku street circuit.

As the track is on the streets of Baku, it's one of the most difficult ones on the season calendar. It has one of the narrowest roads through which an F1 car goes through, so the Monagasque was unable to control the car and crashed.

During the qualifying session before the 2019 Azerbaijan GP, Leclerc was in Q2 and was doing a flying lap around the circuit. As he approached the narrow turn 8, his left front tyre locked up, and he was unable to get the perfect entry into the corner, resulting in him crashing into the wall. The entire front end of his car was destroyed.

Right after the crash, Leclerc came on the radio, and in a low voice, reflected on how stupid he was and how he switched everything off before getting out of the car. He said:

"I am stupid, I am stupid. ... I switch off everything."

Charles Leclerc had to start the race from eighth place in the 2019 Azerbaijan GP. Hence, he was only able to overtake a handful of drivers to finish fifth and bag five points. Though it was not the worst race weekend for him, that crash had a long-lasting effect on the Ferrari driver.

Before his crash, former F1 driver Robert Kubica also crashed at the same spot in Q1 qualifying session. The Polish driver turned in a bit too quickly and bumped into the left wall, which broke the driveshaft and pushed him into the right side of the wall.

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Charles Leclerc dejected after early exit at 2023 Australian GP

Charles Leclerc had one of the worst races in the 2023 Australian GP. Lance Stroll accidentally collided with the Monagasque on the first lap of the race and sent him to the gravel trap.

After returning to the paddock, Leclerc expressed his frustration and explained that he does not want a break and immediately wants to prepare for future races and improve:

"I don't usually take long breaks when things go wrong. We have to keep working to improve the car, obviously, making the most of the time we have available. Carlos is showing a good pace today; we hope to do better and better."

He added:

"At the moment, I don't have long-term goals for this season. We have to think about finishing race by race without taking penalties and having problems. These are the priorities at this historic moment."

Charles Leclerc will look forward to racing in the 2023 Azerbaijan GP, where he will expect to get a decent result after a horrendous outing at Albert Park.