Charles Leclerc takes 'harsh' approach after critical Baku error

Charles Leclerc has stated he “paid the price” for his qualifying crash at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Leclerc was one of six drivers who found the barrier during Saturday's grid-setting session, with his shunt coming during his first lap in Q3.

It cemented his starting position in 10th place for the grand prix, and the Monégasque could do little to progress forward, crossing the line in ninth place.

With team-mate Hamilton taking the chequered flag just one position ahead of him, the weekend was a poor return for Ferrari, who have now slipped to third in the constructors' championship.

"It was a bit of a roll of the dice to get the right strategy,” said Leclerc, who stopped on lap 19 to swap his medium tyres for the hard compound.

“The medium-hard or hard-medium was kind of the same. I mean, it was obviously the same on paper.

"And then you will just hope that you were with the most amount of fast cars on the same strategy.”

As was the case with various drivers, Leclerc got stuck in a DRS train with other cars and was unable to move forward.

The 27-year-old pinned the blame for the disappointing result solely on himself, stating it sprouted from his crash on Saturday.  

“I ended up with Liam [Lawson], who was very strong in the straight, very strong in the last sector, and very difficult to overtake, even on the cars that had reverse strategy,” he said.

“I got stuck behind him the whole race. So it was very frustrating, but a good job for him.

"And at the end of the day, the only thing I can do is to be harsh with myself and having not performed the way I should have in qualifying, obviously with a mistake in Q3.

“It’s been a very strong season so far, but [in Baku] I haven't been on the level where I should be and I paid the price for it."