Michael Masi the race director for the FIA has confirmed that Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc did not in fact crash his car on purpose during the Qualifying session for the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix. As the session was drawing to a close Leclerc, who was heading the time sheets, crashed heavily into the barriers at the Swimming Poor complex, hitting the insider of the wall on the entry to the turn 15 chicane before crashing on the exit. This facilitated a red flag with the session coming to a premature end, with several drivers failing to improve on their lap times. This handed pole position to the Ferrari driver and while some have speculated that the Monegasque driver crashed on purpose, Masi has categorically denied this was the case. "The incident was looked at immediately in race control," Masi told select members of the media including RacingNews365.com . "It was quite clear to us that it was an error at the first part of turn 15. Having looked at the data and also listening to the team communication, I don't think any driver would go out there to severely damage their car, to that degree, in any circumstance, because of the consequences that may arise out of that." Masi was proved correct as Leclerc utlimately failed to make the start after his car stopped on the way to the grid. The team is yet to confirm what exactly the issue was. Though Leclerc did state that the issue was not related to the gearbox as many suspected might be the case.
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