"His bad luck was our good luck today"- Charles Leclerc 'a very good driver' despite his crash at 2022 F1 French GP, says Red Bull's Christian Horner

Charles Leclerc's French GP crash might be hard for him to accept. However, he received support from Red Bull's Christian Horner who dismissed suggestions that he's a "crasher." Speaking to the media after the race, Horner was questioned if he thought Charles Leclerc crashes far too often. He said:

"I don't think so. I don't know whether anything else contributed to his accident, but he's a very strong driver. I mean, these two guys, they're operating at such [a high level] and pushing each other so hard. These cars are right on the edge in these conditions. His bad luck was our good luck today and it's swung around during the course of the year."

Max Verstappen was also quick to point out that the crash was unfortunate and that it can happen when you're racing at this level.

"I feel sorry for him; it's not nice and he knows that. I think it would have been a really good battle to the end. Unfortunately, we never got to that, but, luckily, Charles is okay."

Mattia Binotto: Charles Leclerc will come back stronger from this

After the race, Leclerc admitted that these kinds of mistakes cannot happen if he is to contend for the title this season. However, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto was quick to jump to Leclerc's defense. He pointed out that the Ferrari driver has been performing at a very high level this season and there is no reason to jump to conclusions.

"I think it's a bit of an unfair judgement. He was driving certainly at the limit. There are things that may happen when you're driving to the limit. Why it happened, we will see if is there anything else. We take our time with him to discuss and to judge, but at the moment, there is no reason to blame him."

Binotto also expressed hope that Charles Leclerc will come back stronger in Hungary, having shown the propensity to perform after a bad weekend.

"I'm pretty sure he will learn. We have always seen that Charles is reacting very strongly and well to when he's doing mistakes. And I'm pretty sure that he will be back in Hungary stronger and hungry."

Charles Leclerc is now 63 points behind Max Verstappen in the championship. In addition to his deficit to the front, he'll have to fend off Sergio Perez, who is just seven points behind him in third.