Charles Leclerc was left beating himself up after losing the lead of the French Grand Prix by crashing out at Circuit Paul Ricard.

The Monegasque looked set to be a in race-long duel with Max Verstappen for victory and was pushing hard to maintain his lead after seeing his Dutch rival stop for fresh tyres in a bid to overtake.

Pushing hard became pushing too hard, however, as he lost control of his Ferrari and span into the wall at turn 11.

It was a hugely dramatic moment both in terms of the race and in terms of the championship, with it paving the way for Verstappen to go on and take the victory and extend his lead in the standings to 63 points.

That could well be that for Leclerc in the title battle, though of course he'll never give up, and he took full responsibility for the accident speaking after he'd gotten out of the car:

“As I’ve been saying, I think I’m performing at the highest level of my career but if I keep doing these mistakes then it’s pointless to perform at a very high level.

“I’m losing too many points, seven I think was in Imola, 25 here because honestly we probably were the strongest car on track today.

LE CASTELLET, FRANCE - JULY 24: Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Ferrari F1-75 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of France at Circuit Paul Ricard on July 24, 2022 in Le Castellet, France. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

“So yeah, if we lose the championship by 32 points at the end of the season, I will know where they are coming from and it’s unacceptable."

Leclerc evidently knows that he mucked up and he will be itching to get back behind the wheel in Hungary and try and make amends.

His championship hopes are not dead by any means, but he does need a huge turnaround now and time will tell whether he can pull it off with Verstappen and Red Bull looking very strong.