“I’ll make sure to stop for everyone when you see me on the streets or at the track, but I won’t be coming downstairs if you visit my home.
“Your support, both in person and on social media, means the world to me, but there is a boundary that should not be crossed. Happy Easter everyone.”
Leclerc endured a nightmare at the Australian Grand Prix with his race coming to an end on the opening lap.
The Ferrari star was hit from behind by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and send spinning into the gravel where his car became beached.
His teammate endured a late race nightmare after being handed a five-second time penalty for making contact with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
Carlos Sainz had jumped up to third as a result of Alonso’s spin before four cars were wiped out in the crazy scenes that saw the race red-flagged on lap 56 and again on lap 57.
Because the race was red-flagged on lap 57 without a lap being completed from the previous red-flag stoppage, the grid order reverted back to the order “at the last point at which it was possible to determine the position of all of the cars” — as directed under FIA rules.
It ended up a fatal blow to Sainz with the five-second penalty actually turning into a hammer blow because the race ended under a final safety car procession lap from a rolling start. The bunched up grid saw Sainz fall from fourth to 12th — last on the grid — by the time the penalty was added to his time.
It was sheer misery for Sainz — and he knew it was going to happen even before the race was over.
Sainz desperately pleaded with his team to appeal the five-second penalty when he was given the bad news on team radio.
“No, it cannot be,” he said.
“It’s unacceptable. Tell them it’s not acceptable.
“Ask them please, please, please to wait. The penalty is too severe.”
Alonso also said in the post match press conference that the penalty was “too harsh”.
In the end, only 12 of the 20 drivers completed the Grand Prix, meaning Oscar Piastri finished eighth to score the first championship points of his career at his home race.
Red Bull has won the first three races of a season for the first time ever, while Alonso has finished on the podium in every race so far in 2023.
Sainz was about the only driver that had a worse day than Mercedes’ George Russell, who bombed out with a fiery power unit failure that came after a pit stop strategy that cost him the lead of the race.
