Charles Leclerc’s repute as one in every of Formulation One’s most accident-prone drivers has resurfaced in 2026 after a lot of pricey incidents throughout latest races.
The Ferrari driver’s troublesome run started in Miami, the place he clipped the wall on the ultimate lap and obtained a 20-second post-race penalty for slicing corners whereas nursing his broken automobile house. This dropped him from a possible robust consequence to eighth. He then crashed in Q3 at Monaco and once more late within the race whereas working in podium rivalry. In Barcelona, Leclerc crashed throughout qualifying earlier than retiring from the Grand Prix with a mechanical subject, as teammate Lewis Hamilton went on to win.
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For a driver thought to be one of many quickest over a single lap, the query has inevitable returned: is Leclerc genuinely extra crash-prone than his rivals or is he simply unfortunate? Right here GPblog seems to be at how he compares to his F1 rivals.
How Charles Leclerc compares to his rivals
Photograph: Race Photos
Photograph: Race Photos
Of the 25 instances that Leclerc has retired from a Grand Prix, 64% of which have come from an accident or collision, which is just behind Gabriel Bortoleto on the present Formulation One grid. At a median of 1.77, that’s larger than some other driver on the grid.
Not all of these accidents are his fault, and contains collisions with different drivers. His 2026 Monaco Grand Prix retirement is the primary time he has retired from a race from a crash by himself, since he span out from the lead of the 2022 French Grand Prix.
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His teammate Lewis Hamilton is fourth for the share of non-mechanical DNFs and has famously been concerned in collisions with drivers together with Max Verstappen, Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa. Nevertheless, in his twentieth season of F1 he’s averaging simply 0.85 DNF a season from a crash or collision.
Max Verstappen is thirteenth on the listing with simply 14 out of his 35 DNFs coming from crashes or collisions, though he has been concerned in quite a few tangles which haven’t resulted in the long run of his race.
Lando Norris is likely one of the finest in relation to avoiding accidents with simply 5 DNFs from crashes or collisions throughout his eight years, only one much less season in F1 than what Leclerc has competed in. Norris fares higher than Russell who has seen half of his retirements come from crashes, collisions or spins.
Maybe essentially the most spectacular driver on this listing is Fernando Alonso who has simply 26.8% of retirements come from crashes or collisions. Nevertheless, that is also pointed in the direction of the problems with a number of the vehicles that he has competed in, with 4 mechanical DNFs in his uncompetitive Aston Martin this season.
Qualifying crashes are hurting Leclerc
A number of of Leclerc’s most damaging moments have occurred in qualifying, instantly compromising his complete weekend. He was in rivalry for pole in each Monaco and Barcelona in 2026 however crashed on each events.
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His most notorious qualifying shunt got here on the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix: having provisionally secured pole, he crashed on his ultimate lap and missed the race fully. Different notable examples embody Miami 2023 and Azerbaijan 2025.
By comparability, his rivals have been much more cautious in qualifying. Lando Norris’s final qualifying crash was in Saudi Arabia final 12 months, whereas George Russell’s most up-to-date got here on the 2024 United States Grand Prix. Max Verstappen crashed out in Australia this season, however Lewis Hamilton has remarkably prevented a qualifying accident for the reason that 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Expertise vs consistency
Leclerc’s uncooked velocity stays undisputed, he incessantly delivers gorgeous one-lap performances. Nevertheless, the hole between his qualifying brilliance and race-day execution has been a recurring theme. Whereas unhealthy luck and exterior components play a job, the frequency of self-inflicted errors at essential moments continues to attract scrutiny. Throughout troublesome stretches, Leclerc has admitted to pushing “over the restrict”.
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The vast majority of time it does repay for Leclerc and he was in a position to get eight podiums final season in an underwhelming Ferrari. Leclerc blamed his brakes for his issues at Monaco, however after switching to Hamilton’s braking configuration, he solely had himself guilty in Barcelona. This has opened up a 40-point hole to Hamilton within the standings, with figures together with Jacques Villeneuve suggesting Ferrari ought to prioritise Hamilton within the championship.
Because the 2026 season progresses, lowering these high-pressure errors can be crucial for Leclerc to transform his simple expertise into constant podiums and victories alongside Hamilton at Ferrari.
