Charles Leclerc confused TV viewers with a radio message during the F1 sprint in Baku. “Fuck, there was a cut,” he said (supposedly) while leading Sergio Pérez during the safety car period.
A pit radio, which was also transcribed in exactly this way in an official TV insert. Commentators and fans were now puzzled: are there engine failures on the Ferrari? Is there a risk of failure?
The case, however, was quite different. Because what Leclerc really said was, “Fuck, there was a cat.” So not a misfire of the engine, but a cat!
At the FIA press conference after the race, Leclerc was asked what the “cut” was all about and whether the misfires might have occurred again afterwards. Which only cost him a grin: “Absolutely not. I said ‘Cat’ (“cat”; editor’s note) – and that’s something completely different!”
He explains: “Suddenly there was a cat in the middle of the road and the safety car had to slow down. But I was maybe the only one who saw it.”
“Maybe Max can adopt the cat right away”
Bernd Mayländer in the safety car had to suddenly slow down between turn 1 and turn 2 to save the life of the animal, which fled to the right-hand side of the track. Leclerc could just see that; Perez behind him was already too far away for that, as the recordings of the onboard cameras show.
“I haven’t seen her,” laughs the Mexican, and suggests: “Maybe Max can adopt the cat right away!”
Ultimately, the situation was “not that bad,” Leclerc puts it into perspective. And the excitement about his radio message was completely for nothing.
Also interesting, by the way: His Ferrari racing engineer did not react at all to the ambiguous radio message. He only told Leclerc that the safety car would come in soon and then continue. Neither ‘Cut’ nor ‘Cat’ was discussed in detail.
Leclerc lost his lead to Perez shortly after and ultimately finished second in the F1 sprint at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku. Also because his tires deteriorated a lot towards the end of the distance.
But that had nothing to do with the rescued cat…