Be Kind to Yourself, Even Charles Leclerc Rear-Ends People in Traffic

Charles Leclerc has achieved quite a lot, despite being only 26. He drives for Ferrari in Formula 1, which itself is pretty remarkable. He also just won the Italian Grand Prix last weekend and his home race in Monaco a few months before that. But, Charles Leclerc is also only human. We know this because a TikToker with their phone out happened to catch him on camera rear-ending another vehicle while behind the wheel of a Ferrari Purosangue in Monte Carlo.

It’s clearly Leclerc, as we can see when he leans forward into sunlight; the seven-time Grand Prix winner also owns a silver Purosangue, and reportedly drove it to Monza last week. After the initial impact at the iconic Fairmont Hairpin, Leclerc slowly reverses his Ferrari while the struck vehicle inches forward. The hometown hero and his passenger make some seemingly kind or communicative gestures, the two cars drive off, and our window into this mishap ends.

Look, there’s no use clowning on Leclerc for this. Everyone makes mistakes—yeah, even world-class athletes. If anything, it’s a reminder to all of us to go easier on ourselves. Now, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly amused at the irony of this going down at a corner he’s driven hundreds of times before in his life, but road traffic and race speeds are two very different circumstances, bringing two very unique challenges.

Meanwhile, let’s say you’re the owner of the vehicle that’s been hit. Honestly, it’s kind of a mark of pride. It would likely depend on what I was driving, but I can definitely see a scenario in which I never get that dent popped out.

The video was posted to TikTok by user cameroncamasi on Thursday, though it’s unclear precisely when this happened. Leclerc has this weekend off before heading to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where he’ll attempt to make it two in a row and ideally not mutter any more self-deprecating words to himself.

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