Ferrari Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc says he was “a bit harsh” with his heated criticism of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli during Miami’s sprint race, but does hope the Italian “calms down a little bit” as he races wheel to wheel.
Leclerc and Antonelli battled in the opening stages of Saturday’s 19-lap sprint races, with Antonelli’s poor getaway dropping him from second to fourth behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Leclerc, attempting to reclaim third in a protracted battle with the Monegasque driver.
Leclerc wasn’t particularly impressed with Antonelli’s driving, however, as he fended off the Italian teenager to secure third behind winner Lando Norris and Piastri.
“Kimi is so bad on wheel to wheel,” Leclerc said at the time. “He moved under braking, it’s unbelievable. We’re going to crash.”
Leclerc and Antonelli came to blows twice over the course of Antonelli’s 2025 rookie season, with the Mercedes youngster taking Leclerc out at the Dutch Grand Prix, and also playing a part in a three-car collision with Leclerc and Piastri in Brazil.
“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 [because] 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.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lando Norris, McLaren, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
“It’s just sometimes a little bit too close for comfort and not really needed as well. In this particular case I was quite angry in the car but the comments were probably a bit too harsh.”
Antonelli finished fourth but was eventually handed a post-race five-second penalty for repeated track limits offences, dropping him to sixth. Speaking to Sky, Antonelli admitted he was frustrated by his botched start, which was beyond his control, and made too many errors.
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“We’ve been doing work over the break [on race starts] and on my side for once I did everything right with the procedures, so we need to check what happened,” Antonelli reported. “The grip was very low, probably lower than we expected.
“After that I was really frustrated, I didn’t even drive well, I made a lot of mistakes. I got track limits which is something that I need to avoid.”
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