Monaco Grand Prix suspended over safety concerns after Leclerc crash | F1 | Sport

The Monaco Grand Prix was brought to a grinding halt with only a few laps remaining over concerns that part of the track was ‘breaking up’. It came after Charles Leclerc crashed late in the race in scenes that Sky Sports co-commentator Martin Brundle described as being “highly unusual”.

Leclerc was on for a podium finish in his home race but it all unravelled with just 10 laps to go as he buried the front of his Ferrari in the wall at the final corner. The race was initially neutralised by the safety car, though it wasn’t long before race control took the decision to red-flag the Grand Prix.

And it quickly became clear that there was a big issue unfolding. Replayed showed that Leclerc had run over what looked to be a new pothole that had opened up on the circuit at that section of the track. A few laps earlier, Lance Stroll had crashed his Aston Martin in the same area and replays also showed that he had driven over the pothole.

It was clearly posing a danger to drivers with bits of asphalt coming away from the road and sticking to tyres as cars ran over it. After the race was suspended, a spokesperson for the FIA confirmed to Express Sport that the red flag was “for inspection of track break-up at turn 19”.

Race director Rui Marques headed down to that corner himself to take a good look at the track. And many marshals, armed with sweeping brushes, were removing the little marbles of asphalt away from the racing line while FIA chiefs were considering what could be done in order to get the race restarted.

Clearly, they soon became satisfied that they were going to be able to run the race safely, as the FIA sent out a restart order to the teams to confirm which drivers would be placed where when the Grand Prix was given the green light to get going again. And when it did, it was going to be a dash to the end with only 10 laps remaining.

Reflecting on what happened, though, Leclerc made it clear that he was less concerned about the track than he was about his brakes as he launched into an impassioned rant about the issues he had been dealing with throughout the race which, ultimately, he feels led to his crash. He said: “It was the brakes. It doesn’t help to have the asphalt coming off, but the data speaks for itself.

“I don’t know how much I can go into detail. It’s extremely frustrating. I think I’ve always been very honest and no matter how many mistake I make, I hate to look at myself in the mirror and see myself making excuses when I do a mistake, so that’s why I’m always bluntly honest when I’m in front of cameras, but I’m not going to take any of the blame today.

“The amount… It’s not even braking – I touched the brakes and there’s just something with those front brakes, it just braked a lot more than I wanted and the rears, there was no deceleration. It was like I had no rear brakes at all. That’s what I’m dealing with for two races now.

“We’ve had some differences of brakes between cars, and I don’t think it’s been a disadvantage for me at all, but here and in Montreal, with cold tyre temperatures, inconsistency and the tyres being a lot more sensitive because you’re on the limit of those tyres, it has just been an absolute nightmare. And I’m weighing my words. I don’t have many words. Today I look like an idiot, and when you look like an idiot for a mistake of yours, it’s fine, but it’s borderline dangerous.”