Ferrari Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc has given fresh insight into the aftermath of his Italian Grand Prix crash, explaining his vision problem was “very short”.
Leclerc lost control of his car at high speed on lap two of the Monza race, slamming into the barriers at the exit of Parabolica. This was his third retirement of the 2026 season.
The Monegasque was cleared from the medical centre but still said he would require additional checks to ensure he was fit for this weekend’s Spanish GP in Madrid.
“The neck was OK, it was just the vision a little bit at first,” Leclerc said on Sunday. “The right eye was not showing me great vision, but now it’s all good, so that’s the thing I was most worried of getting off the car.”
Four days later, in the Madring paddock, the 28-year-old confirmed his eyesight issue had turned out to be very brief.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images
Asked if that problem made him doubt he could drive in Madrid, Leclerc replied: “No, not to that extent.
“I felt again the tightness and probably the bit of the pain in the neck on Monday. But in terms of vision it was very short. Right after I got into the [medical] car, one eye was, I don’t know, maybe not working properly – but then it was fully fine after a few seconds, so I was not too worried.
“I knew it was a big shunt, and obviously that’s never a good thing for the body, but straight away then I could see quite nicely.”
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Albeit slightly bruised, Leclerc added that his medical check-up – which tended to “quite a lot of things” – did go as planned.
“It was quite a big one, probably from outside it looked like a big one as well, but it felt also like a big one,” he said of the shunt. “Sometimes it can look quite big from outside but from the car it’s fine.
“Going out I wasn’t feeling so well, but actually it was just the shock. I did quite a lot of checks and quite a lot of treatments in the first two days, mostly for the neck because I felt a little bit tight, which I guess is normal, but now I’m fine.
“All the checks I did were fine – I cannot really tell you, honestly… in the medical world, every check of the neck is called way too difficultly for me to remember. I did many checks and everything was fine.”
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