Leclerc ‘lucky like Hamilton’, says Marko

Helmut Marko has suggested Charles Leclerc shared the same luck as Lewis Hamilton after the Ferrari driver avoided major damage despite spinning and hitting the wall at Imola.

In his efforts to catch Sergio Perez, Leclerc spun after being too aggressive going over the kerb. Despite having all four wheels off the ground at one point, the Ferrari driver came away relatively unscathed with just minor damage to the front wing.

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After stopping to replace the damaged part, Leclerc produced an impressive rescue job to go from eighth to sixth in just nine laps, which meant his championship lead was only cut to 27 points.

After the race, Red Bull’s Helmut Marko implied the Monégasque shared the same luck as Lewis Hamilton and that there were signs of nerves in Leclerc’s driving.

“[The nerves] were already there on Friday in practice when he spun – but lucky, like Hamilton, unbelievable,” said Marko, as reported by Motorsport.com.

“He hits the ground and is able to continue. But that’s all right.”

It was a perfect weekend for Red Bull with Max Verstappen winning both the sprint and Sunday’s race, while Perez made it a one-two having fended off Leclerc. Marko highlighted Red Bull’s decision to install upgrades despite the limited practice sessions due to sprint qualifying as a major contributor of the success.

“The decisive factor was we had the courage to install our upgrade despite only one free practice session,” said Marko.

“Everything worked, which is why our