Charles Leclerc has been confused a lot of times for being a French driver. However, the 2023 Azerbaijan GP marked the first instance where the Monegasque racer was identified on TV as a Dutch national.
Leclerc finished 3rd, behind Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen who finished 1st and 2nd. However, the Ferrari driver ended up standing in the 2nd place spot atop the podium. This caused the flag of the Netherlands to be displayed over him. The same goof-up affected Verstappen, as the Dutchman was represented with the flag of the principality of Monaco.
The TV directors even mixed the positions of the two drivers. Once the mistake was spotted the electric flags were quickly taken down while the Mexican national anthem was being played. Right before Leclerc could take notice, the Monegasque was represented with his country’s flag.
Charles Leclerc also took Sergio Perez’s spot in the cooldown room
Charles Leclerc bagged his first podium of the year with the P3 in Baku. However, the Monegasque occupied the winner’s seat in the cool-down room.
Leclerc had a chat with Max Verstappen, grabbed his towel and bottle, and sat in the central chair. The chair is generally reserved for the race winner, which in today’s case was Sergio Perez.
the brazilian commentator said “he’s been so long without a podium that he doesn’t remember the positions” 💀💀
— clara (@leclercsletters) April 30, 2023
Perez prompted the Ferrari driver who realised quite late that he was in the wrong seat. Nevertheless, the Mexican allowed the Ferrari driver to remain seated and took his seat instead.
F1 Twitter reacts to Leclerc’s flag mix up
Fans of Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc laughed after the driver fell victim to another flag mixup. Twitter user ‘girltalksracing’ explained the entire situation to fans after noticing Leclerc and Max Verstappen being represented by the other’s national flag.
It was already funny that Verstappen and Leclerc were standing the wrong way round on the podium, but then someone backstage tried to cover it up by switching the electronic flags and it became even funnier. #F1 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/0Wbt77h765
— Girl Talks Racing (@girltalksracing) April 30, 2023
Some fans could not believe how F1 got their drivers represented with the wrong flag. A Twitter user ‘FM1_3316’ joked “My favorite Monegasque racing driver, Max Verstappen, and his childhood rival, Dutch driver Charles Leclerc.”
My favorite Monegasque racing driver, Max Verstappen, and his childhood rival, Dutch driver Charles Leclerc, on the podium you love to see it 🥰 pic.twitter.com/EuukfMHwYl
— Matt³³⁺¹⁶ | 🏝🇺🇸MIAMI🇺🇸🏝 (@FM1_3316) April 30, 2023
Leclerc has been mistaken as a French national on multiple occasions. When the Monegasque won the 2017 F2 championship with a win in Jerez, the French anthem was played, leaving Leclerc annoyed. At least, as ‘leclercsletters’ pointed out, they did not display a French flag on the monitor.
Thankfully, the Monegasque driver did not take notice of the incident. He has previously corrected many journalists who called him ‘French.’ Leclerc is proud of his Monegasque heritage and chooses to be identified as one,
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