Photo: SharlesLegacy | YouTube
Formula 1 drivers are these fabulous mega-racers who tame motorized beasts with tons of horsepower while driving in circles at over 230 mph. But out there in traffic, they are just like us. Take Charles Leclerc, for example.
The F1 driver was involved in a collision in Monaco, where he has lived all his life. He was driving his Ferrari Pursosangue at the time of the accident. Someone from a balcony filmed the accident and uploaded it to social media.
Leclerc didn't notice that the car in front of him had stopped and drove his Purosangue right into the bumper. The corner where it happened is the famous Fairmont Hairpin, which is part of the F1 street circuit, so you would expect an F1 driver to anticipate it and pay more attention. However, going around the track in the opposite direction to the one he does during the Monaco Grand Prix must have confused him.
The video of the collision first appeared on TikTok before going viral. After the accident, the 26-year-old driver can be seen gesticulating, leaning forward to assess the extent of the damage, backing up a bit, and then continuing on as if nothing had happened. The driver in front of him had no reaction, so they probably didn't even notice. It looked like a race with a non-stop strategy.
Hitting the car in front at a very low speed might not have caused much damage. But the sound heard in the footage was quite loud, so the drivers' insurance agents might find some underlying damage.
Leclerc took delivery of his Ferrari Purosangue, painted in Argento Nurburgring and fitted with diamond-cut forged wheels, in April. The non-Off-road The four-door is powered by a 6.5-liter V12, which delivers 715 horsepower (725 metric horsepower). That's enough to propel the Purosangue from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 km/h) in 3.3 seconds.
Charles Leclerc is just a week away from his turn at Monza, at the Italian Grand Prix, when he was first across the line, with a lead of 2.664 seconds over McLaren's Oscar Piastri and 6.153 seconds over Lando Norris. The Monegasque driver is third in the 2024 drivers' standings, 86 points behind three-time champion Max Verstappen.
It is not uncommon for F1 drivers to crash off the track. They are only human, after all. The most expensive accident involving an F1 driver has to be Lewis Hamilton crashing his Pagani Zonda in Monaco in 2015.
Hamilton walked away unscathed, but the same cannot be said for the poor Zonda. Battered and dented, the car was sent back to the factory in Italy for repairs.
Hamilton didn't want to hear about it anymore and decided to sell it. The car was bought by British billionaire Mark Radcliffe, who crashed it last year in the Penmaenbach Tunnel in Conwy, Wales.
