Ferrari principal Mattia Binotto stated that Charles Leclerc’s crash during the French Grand Prix was not caused by a throttle issue.
Leclerc crashed on lap 18 of the French GP while leading the race. After the accident had happened, the Monegasque said that he “cannot go off throttle”. That message reminded of a throttle issue Leclerc encountered during the Austrian GP. However, Binotto brushed off any speculations after the race.
“First there was no issue with the throttle itself, [it was] nothing to do with Austria,” he said.
“What happened is a genuine mistake of Charles which are things that may happen, and I think they do not take off how good he is as a driver and as a fantastic driver. But it was a genuine mistake.
“What you heard on the radio was about when he was in reverse gear trying to get out from the barriers. There is a strategy, without going in to all the details, that [meant] he was on the throttle, but didn’t feel sufficient torque from the engine. It was nothing wrong. Simply the strategy there.”
Binotto added that Ferrari had solved the problem Leclerc had in Spielberg.
“Normally we’re not discussing much about details on what’s happening, but what happened in Austria is very simple.
“There was a damper which was slightly sticky. Not more than that. And we already put in place some actions to avoid it for the future.”
