Leclerc admits Antonelli comments ‘a bit too harsh’ but says Italian needs a calmer approach

Charles Leclerc says his radio comments about Kimi Antonelli during the Sprint at the Miami Grand Prix were “a bit too harsh” but reiterated that the championship leader needs to change his approach to racing.

Antonelli was attacking Leclerc in the early part of the Sprint on Saturday, leading to a radio message from the Ferrari driver saying: “Kimi is… so bad on wheel to wheel. He moved under braking, it’s unbelievable. We’re going to crash.”

When asked if those comments were purely made in the heat of the moment, Leclerc replied that he feels he has had too many close calls with Antonelli early in the 19-year-old’s career.

“I was being a bit harsh maybe, with the adrenaline inside the car,” Leclerc said. “It’s true that we’ve had our moments with Kimi in the past and I hope this calms down a little bit going ahead, especially as he’s the only Italian driver on the grid against Ferrari! I wish it was with someone else, and I really like Kimi also as a person.

“No, it’s just sometimes a little bit too close for comfort and not really needed as well. So, in this particular case, I was quite angry in the car, but the comments were probably a bit too harsh.”

Leclerc had also been frustrated by Ferrari’s performance in Friday’s Sprint qualifying session, but says the race performance looks encouraging after finishing third ahead of Antonelli, and close behind the two McLarens.

“[The race pace] was actually quite OK. I’m more disappointed about our Sprint qualifying yesterday than I am today, because at the end of the day we did a good start," he said. "I think the pace was there. It was very difficult to follow in the second sector, but we were quite competitive.

“It wasn’t ever enough to overtake Oscar [Piastri], but overall, I thought our race pace was a little bit stronger compared to our qualifying pace yesterday. We need to try and find something for this afternoon in order to start a little bit further up, and that should make our life a little bit easier, because also with all the managing and the warm temperatures of today, it was quite tricky.”