Leclerc reacts to pre-race crash that put him out of Miami F1 sprint

Charles Leclerc has responded to the pre-race crash which put him out of the Miami Grand Prix sprint - complaining he was "completely out of control".

The Ferrari driver was on his way to the grid for a rain-soaked sprint race, but suddenly aquaplaned into the wall causing terminal damage. 

He was supposed to start the race in sixth and complained of "complete aquaplaning" over team radio as he apologised to the team. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton also complained over the radio that Ferrari had sent both drivers out on the intermediate compound.

Leclerc said of the incident: "There could be many, many reasons but at the end of the day, I'm the one behind the wheel. 

“It’s a mistake and a big one because obviously on the lap to the grid that’s never what you want. I was completely out of control in the back straight. I wasn’t even flat out.

“There was a lot of aquaplaning and the car was not responding to anything I was doing - but it doesn’t justify what I've done.”

When asked if he expects to compete in qualifying for the grand prix later on Saturday, Leclerc said: "I'm pretty confident. I couldn't really see the amount of damage there was.

"It was quite a big hit because in this particular place or the straight, it's only a hard wall, so the hit was quite hard. We'll see."

Rain began to fall over the Miami Gardens circuit around 90 minutes before the sprint race was due to begin at 12pm local time.

Everyone else made it around safely to the grid – bar the Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda, who will start the sprint from the pitlane, having been eliminated in the first round of qualifying on Friday.

Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli started on pole following his stunning performance in the dry, which saw the 18-year-old not only set a record lap time in Miami but also become the youngest driver to ever take pole in any format of F1 racing.

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