Karun Chandhok amazed by what he saw in Charles Leclerc onboard from Canadian Grand Prix practice crash

Charles Leclerc crashed out of the opening practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix on Friday. Leclerc was second in the early pecking order when he found the wall.

The Ferrari driver locked up on the entry to the turn three/four chicane and hit the inside barrier before a secondary impact on the outside. There was significant damage to the SF-25.

Leclerc enters the weekend in good form after back-to-back podiums in Monaco and Spain. He sits fifth in the championship, 23 points ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve isn’t one of his stronger tracks. He’s only scored one podium in his five visits as an F1 driver and started 10th or lower in four of those races.

Karun Chandhok’s verdict on ‘horrible’ Charles Leclerc crash at Canadian Grand Prix

Sky Sports commentator Karun Chandhok offered his instant reaction to the onboard footage from Leclerc’s crashes. It wasn’t the kind of incident he expected when the session was red flagged.

Chandhok says Leclerc should have bailed out of the corner earlier. He could have run across the grass with no damage done.

The driver himself agreed with that assessment over the radio. He told his engineer, Bryan Bozzi, that he should ‘have gone straight’ but thought he could have ‘made it’.

“He’s hit the barrier on the left!” a stunned Chandhok observed. “Oh wow, just carried way, way too much speed into it and then snatched the front.

“At that stage you’re just a passenger. It’s a horrible feeling. You’re just sliding, sliding across the grass. You see the wall coming, and there’s nothing you can do.

“Not even close to the apex. He locked up and he’d slid probably two car widths from where he’d want to be on that inside kerb.

“He should have come off the brake earlier, as soon as it initially snatched. He’s tried to slow it down to try and make the corner.

“But if you abandon it, you come off the brake, you have less of a lock-up and you go across the lap. By trying not to abandon the lap, he’s ended up doing the opposite and hitting the barrier.”

Speaking live on F1TV, former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer added: “I’ve not seen anyone hit that barrier before.”

Charles Leclerc has a private grievance about Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari

The pressure on the Ferrari team has arguably reached its highest point of the season so far. Coming into the race, Fred Vasseur’s future has been questioned.

Ferrari scoffed at the speculation over their team principal, but those aren’t the only negative stories. There’s also talk that Leclerc is considering his future.

One report claims that Leclerc is annoyed by the attention Hamilton is receiving. The 40-year-old is facing a steeper learning curve than anybody expected after joining from Mercedes.

The team are second in the championship, but their objective was to win it, and they appear completely ill-equipped to challenge McLaren.