Crash prone or unfairly labelled? How Leclerc compares to F1 rivals

The Ferrari driver’s difficult run began in Miami, where he clipped the wall on the final lap and received a 20-second post-race penalty for cutting corners while nursing his damaged car home. This dropped him from a potential strong result to eighth. He then crashed in Q3 at Monaco and again late in the race while running in podium contention. In Barcelona, Leclerc crashed during qualifying before retiring from the Grand Prix with a mechanical issue, as teammate Lewis Hamilton went on to win.

For a driver regarded as one of the fastest over a single lap, the question has inevitable returned: is Leclerc genuinely more crash-prone than his rivals or is he just unlucky? Here GPblog looks at how he compares to his F1 rivals.

Of the 25 times that Leclerc has retired from a Grand Prix, 64% of which have come from an accident or collision, which is only behind Gabriel Bortoleto on the current Formula One grid. At an average of 1.77, that is higher than any other driver on the grid.

Not all of those accidents are his fault, and includes collisions with other drivers. His 2026 Monaco Grand Prix retirement is the first time he has retired from a race from a crash by himself, since he span out from the lead of the 2022 French Grand Prix.

His teammate Lewis Hamilton is fourth for the percentage of non-mechanical DNFs and has famously been involved in collisions with drivers including Max Verstappen, Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa. However, in his 20th season of F1 he is averaging just 0.85 DNF a season from a crash or collision.

Max Verstappen is 13th on the list with just 14 out of his 35 DNFs coming from crashes or collisions, although he has been involved in numerous tangles which have not resulted in the end of his race.

Lando Norris is one of the best when it comes to avoiding accidents with just five DNFs from crashes or collisions across his eight years, just one less season in F1 than what Leclerc has competed in. Norris fares better than Russell who has seen half of his retirements come from crashes, collisions or spins.

Perhaps the most impressive driver on this list is Fernando Alonso who has just 26.8% of retirements come from crashes or collisions. However, that could also be pointed towards the issues with some of the cars that he has competed in, with four mechanical DNFs in his uncompetitive Aston Martin this season.

Several of Leclerc’s most damaging moments have occurred in qualifying, immediately compromising his entire weekend. He was in contention for pole in both Monaco and Barcelona in 2026 but crashed on both occasions.

His most infamous qualifying shunt came at the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix: having provisionally secured pole, he crashed on his final lap and missed the race entirely. Other notable examples include Miami 2023 and Azerbaijan 2025.

By comparison, his rivals have been far more cautious in qualifying. Lando Norris’s last qualifying crash was in Saudi Arabia last year, while George Russell’s most recent came at the 2024 United States Grand Prix. Max Verstappen crashed out in Australia this season, but Lewis Hamilton has remarkably avoided a qualifying accident since the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Leclerc’s raw speed remains undisputed, he frequently delivers stunning one-lap performances. However, the gap between his qualifying brilliance and race-day execution has been a recurring theme. While bad luck and external factors play a role, the frequency of self-inflicted errors at crucial moments continues to draw scrutiny. During difficult stretches, Leclerc has admitted to pushing "over the limit".

The majority of time it does pay off for Leclerc and he was able to get eight podiums last season in an underwhelming Ferrari. Leclerc blamed his brakes for his problems at Monaco, but after switching to Hamilton's braking configuration, he only had himself to blame in Barcelona. This has opened up a 40-point gap to Hamilton in the standings, with figures including Jacques Villeneuve suggesting Ferrari should prioritise Hamilton in the championship.

As the 2026 season progresses, reducing these high-pressure mistakes will be critical for Leclerc to convert his undeniable talent into consistent podiums and victories alongside Hamilton at Ferrari.