Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari was in the Parabolica barriers before the field had completed two laps at Monza. The Monegasque climbed out of the SF-26 unaided and walked back to the pit lane carrying his helmet.
The trigger, in Leclerc’s own telling, arrived a corner earlier. He had run wheel-to-wheel with team-mate Lewis Hamilton through the opening chicane, sat too deep on the inside curb, and had to bail out of the corner sequence.
“With Lewis it was a way too close into Turn 1 and unfortunately in Turn 2,” Leclerc said afterwards.
“I was quite a lot on the inside curve and tried to make the corner, which I didn’t do it tight enough.”
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“I obviously only saw in the mirrors what happened, which is never what you want between two cars, between two cars of the same team.”
The crash itself came on the exit of the Parabolica a lap later, with Leclerc defending fourth from Oscar Piastri’s McLaren when the rear of the SF-26 stepped out without any contact, Motorsport Week reported. The impact came at high speed, with estimates in the region of 160 mph.
Leclerc believed power delivery, not only the racing line, was part of the story.
“Then for the crash itself, I went on throttle. On the first lap it felt kind of weird, I had to go back off and on throttle,” he said.
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“On that second lap, I tried to do the same thing but, I know, it just felt a little bit weird, so we’ll look into it.”
The red flag brought the field back to the pits for repairs and a standing restart. Leclerc passed his checks at the circuit medical centre but later revealed that his right eye had given him blurred vision straight after the impact and that he needed further tests before Formula 1 reconvenes for the Spanish Grand Prix at Madrid on 13 September.
Antonelli wins from 19th on the grid
Kimi Antonelli started the race down in 19th after an engine-related penalty and finished it on the top step, holding off Mercedes team-mate George Russell inside the closing laps and beating him by 3.857 seconds. Max Verstappen completed the podium for Red Bull, Formula 1 confirmed.
Antonelli became the first Italian to win at Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966. Hamilton, who had qualified fourth, could not fight his way back past sixth after being shuffled behind Verstappen and Piastri early on. He crossed the line as the lead Ferrari.
Antonelli 76 points clear of Hamilton
Antonelli’s seventh win of the season lifted him to 267 points, extending his lead over Russell to 66 and, more painfully for Ferrari, putting him 76 points ahead of Hamilton and 112 clear of Leclerc, according to the post-race standings.
Eleven rounds remain in 2026, beginning with the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring circuit outside Madrid on Sunday. Leclerc still needs clearance from further medical checks before he can join Hamilton on the grid.
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