Charles Leclerc apologised after a heated Miami Grand Prix exchange with Kimi Antonelli, saying he went too far when he complained over team radio that the Mercedes rookie was moving under braking and was so bad wheel-to-wheel.
Leclerc said his comments came in the heat of battle and were harsher than they should have been. “First of all, I have to apologise for my comments,” he told Viaplay, adding, “I think in the heat of the battle they were a little too hard for Kimi.”
The apology came after a race in which Miami was already running hot for other reasons. McLaren took a sprint 1-2, Max Verstappen was back in contention after Red Bull's upgrade and the FIA moved the start of Sunday's main race forward because heavy rain was forecast. In that setting, Leclerc's frustration with Antonelli stood out because it followed a scrappy on-track fight rather than a strategic dispute.
He tried to lower the temperature further in the FIA press conference, saying he hoped the situation would calm down a little bit going ahead. Leclerc said he and Antonelli have had moments in the past, but stressed that he wants no lasting feud, especially with the only Italian driver on the grid racing against Ferrari. “If there's one driver I don't want to have problems with, it's Kimi,” he said, before adding: “Racing like an Italian against a Ferrari is not so good.”
The friction matters because this was not a one-off flash in isolation. Leclerc's remarks fit into a pattern of hard racing between the pair, while Antonelli continues to draw strong support from the Mercedes camp, with Toto Wolff still praising him. Zak Brown has even reportedly viewed Antonelli as a stronger title contender than George Russell, underlining how quickly the teenager's profile has grown. For Leclerc, the immediate test is whether the Miami flare-up fades into the background or becomes another point of tension the next time they meet on track.