Formula 1, Sportrik Media - Charles Leclerc revealed a tense moment that nearly caused him to lose control of his car during the safety car restart in the Sprint race of the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix 2026 at the Shanghai International Circuit.
The Scuderia Ferrari driver suffered a major snap of oversteer exiting the hairpin in the final sector of the circuit. The incident prevented Leclerc from capitalizing on a potential opportunity to challenge race leader George Russell of Mercedes.
Prior to the safety car intervention triggered by an incident involving Nico Hulkenberg, Russell had built a gap of roughly four seconds over Leclerc. The restart briefly presented a chance for the Monegasque driver to close the gap and attempt to challenge the championship leader.
However, as Leclerc accelerated out of the hairpin, he nearly lost control of the Ferrari due to a sudden loss of rear grip.
“That was a very scary moment, I thought that was it,” Leclerc told media after the Sprint race.
“I saw George having a snap and I thought it was an opportunity to be very close for the restart and hopefully take the lead.”
“I was quite confident that I would have rear grip. But when I went on the throttle, I lost the car ten times more than the snap George had in front, and I nearly lost it.”
Leclerc explained that he had to apply full steering lock to recover the car, describing the moment as being on the limit of control.
“I was on full lock and luckily I managed to catch it. If the snap had been even slightly bigger, I wouldn’t have been able to save it,” he added.
The challenging restart did not end there. Through the final corner of the circuit, both Leclerc and Russell experienced another snap of oversteer due to limited tyre grip following the safety car period.
That moment allowed Russell to immediately open a gap of around 1.2 seconds after the restart. Leclerc managed to reduce the deficit slightly before the chequered flag, ultimately finishing second ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.
The result leaves Leclerc 11 points behind Russell in the drivers’ championship standings, level on points with Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who drives the second Mercedes W17.
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