"He's getting quite emotional": Charles Leclerc is not in a good mental space at Ferrari

F1 pundit Peter Windsor mentioned that Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc is getting pretty emotional about not driving a championship-winning car in 2023.

The Monegasque driver started the F1 Australian GP from a dismal P7 behind his teammate Carlos Sainz, who was P5. He made a good start and was fighting the lead pack, which included the two Aston Martins. However, Leclerc was taken out of the race after colliding with Lance Stroll in Turn 3 of lap 1.

While analyzing the race on his YouTube channel, Windsor said:

"I was really surprised that Charles did that but I'm not surprised in a way because I think he's getting quite emotional about the whole situation. The car not being competitive, getting beaten by Carlos Sainz in qualifying."

"I think he got the momentum and he got the run and he was there on the outside and he's thinking, 'We're gonna see what happens.' But we know what happens. We've seen Stroll on Alonso run into each other already and there is no way that Stroll is gonna back down and straight into him."

"Just extremely frustrating; I mean, it's the worst start to the season ever" - Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc stated that he had analyzed the incident that caused him to retire from the race and mentioned that he does not blame Lance Stroll for it.

Speaking to F1.com, he said:

"I'm not pointing the finger at Lance because I think he had no choice once Fernando [Alonso] slowed down the car the second time, and for me, it was just impossible to see whether Lance was staying behind Fernando or if he was just in between... I obviously didn't think he was there."

He continued:

"Turn 1, I took it easy; Turn 3 I wasn't really planning an overtake at first on Lance. Then I saw that he had to brake very early because of Fernando in front that was braking early."

"So, I released the brakes and put myself alongside Lance, and then Fernando had to brake even more – so then Lance found himself between me and Fernando – and he couldn't turn in, and we had contact. Just extremely frustrating; I mean, it's the worst start to the season ever, really... it is really frustrating,"

It will be fascinating to see if Charles Leclerc can turn his season around and get back to his winning ways at any point in 2023.