'It was a mistake on the part of the team' - Ferrari CEO apologises to Leclerc

Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri has apologised publicly for the errors that messed up local driver Charles Leclerc's qualifying in Monaco.

The Monaco born 21-year-old was fastest in the final practice session before qualifying, only to be knocked out in Q1 when Ferrari strategists decided not to let him back out of the pits to save tyres.

Leclerc was livid, saying: "It's very difficult to take. I need some explanations."

Camilleri said: "We sincerely apologise to him. The bottom line is that this type of incident cannot happen again.  Unfortunately these are things that can happen, as long as they do not happen again.

"It was a mistake on the part of the team and we understood it.  Now we have to forget what happened and do everything we can to close the gap on Mercedes."