Food poisoning, grid penalty: Leclerc gets his weekend off to a bad start in Abu Dhabi

Charles Leclerc had a rather special day on Friday in Abu Dhabi. During Free Practice 1, the Monegasque was able to drive with his brother, Arthur, for a unique association in the history of the Formula 1. A short-lived moment of emotion: despite his best time in the first session, The eight-time Grand Prix winner was given a 10-place grid penalty starting for having exceeded its quota of batteries used this season. A big blow in view of the Constructors' championship.

And as if that were not enough, Charles Leclerc confided on Friday evening that he had been the victim of food poisoning on Thursday, which left him physically weakened. "JI couldn't sleep all night... I'm so tired I just want to sleep now, admitted the Ferrari driver. It wasn't easy, even this morning I didn't feel like driving, but obviously the big motivation of my day was to do FP1 with my younger brother. And that's where everything started to go wrong, unfortunately, because as soon as we started the car we saw that there was a problem with the battery. A lot of things went through my mind then: firstly, was I going to drive this FP1 with my brother, which is a unique opportunity, and of course also the championship.

“It makes our weekend a lot more difficult, but it doesn’t demotivate me at all, says Charles Leclerc despite his 10-place penalty. I already feel a little better tonight, I'm going to have a good night's sleep and I'll come back [Saturday] with a fully recharged battery. I hope we have a good day tomorrow and that we'll make up for it on Sunday."

McLaren is a cut above the rest, says Leclerc

Despite this more laborious start to the weekend than expected, Charles Leclerc hopes to finish his season in style by bringing back the Constructors' title to Maranello. Alas, the Monegasque recognizes that the McLaren – who scored a one-two in Free Practice 2 – look to be in the lead in Abu Dhabi after Friday's action. The British team, which is 21 points ahead of the Italians, is in a strong position ahead of qualifying.

“McLaren unfortunately seems quicker, so at the moment they have the upper hand, but we know it can swing one way or the other very quickly, Charles Leclerc stressed. We have to stay on top and it won't be over until the finish. As we unfortunately saw today on our side, we had a problem but, yeah, I don't wish problems on anyone else, we're just going to focus on ourselves and try to make an incredible comeback on Sunday."

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