Charles Leclerc says ‘excuses are not enough’ to explain his clumsy error at the start🌊 of the Styrian Grand Prix that took both himself and Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel out of the race by lap two.

Already on the back foot after Vettel could only manage 10th and Leclerc started down in 14th – not helped by a grid penalty – the race would last just a few corners for both drivers a🧜fter Leclerc got it all wro♑ng into the Turn 3 hairpin.

Coming up from quite 🌱a long way behind Vettel, Leclerc took to the inside but found himself with nowhere to go as his team-mate shut the door unknowingly to the sister Ferrari. With Leclerc up on the inside kerb, he clattered Vettel’s car, to leave them both with damage that necessitated a stop at the end of lap one.

With Vettel retiring there and then, Leclerc managed just one more lap before pullin✅g in to retire too.

“I a𝔉pologised," the Monegasq🤡ue said. "Excuses are not enough in a time like this. I did a very bad job today, I let the team down. I can only be sorry even though I let the team down.

“The team don’t need that and I put all the hopes of the team in the bin. I’m very sorry, b🉐ut it’s not enough, again.”

Coming at a sensitive time for Ferrari in the wake several racing♈ clashes between its two drivers in 2019, though this one was merely an error on Leclerc’s part this time, it left Vettel evidently frustrated after only scoring a single point a week earlier.

“I was expecting Charles to try something, so I didn’t think there was any space. Obviously this is something we should avoid but no much I could have done differently, I was taking it easไy and conservatively because it was already very busy and tight at the hairpin, so I was just trying to place my car for the 🐭next straight but by then I realised I had quite some damage.”

A missed opportunity to conduct compe🧸titive running of its new parts following Saturday’s rain, Vettel says he will pick himself up and carry on for round༺ three in Hungary.

“It is a shame because we 🤪got to come back to the same track and also similar conditions, but we would not get that answer. The car felt a lot better on Friday and back to where it was la💯st week, but it is a shame because with the update we wanted to get the race on the line and get some laps.”