Leclerc reveals brief vision loss after high-speed Monza crash cleared him for Madrid

Charles Leclerc has revealed he temporarily lost clear vision in one eye following his high-speed crash at Parabolica during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, but confirmed the issue lasted only seconds and that subsequent medical checks have given him the all-clear to race in Madrid this weekend.

The Ferrari driver lost control of his car on lap two and slammed into the barriers at the exit of Parabolica — his third retirement of the 2026 season. Although he was cleared from the medical centre on race day, Leclerc said he would need further checks before the Spanish GP.

“The neck was OK, it was just the vision a little bit at first,” Leclerc said on Sunday. “The right eye was not showing me great vision, but now it’s all good, so that’s the thing I was most worried of getting off the car.”

Speaking four days later in the Madrid paddock, the 28-year-old Monegasque confirmed the eyesight problem had been fleeting. “In terms of vision it was very short. Right after I got into the [medical] car, one eye was, I don’t know, maybe not working properly — but then it was fully fine after a few seconds, so I was not too worried.”

Leclerc acknowledged the physical toll of the impact, describing neck tightness and soreness in the days that followed, but said the sensation was consistent with the severity of the shunt. “I knew it was a big shunt, and obviously that’s never a good thing for the body, but straight away then I could see quite nicely.”

He underwent an extensive round of medical assessments in the first two days after the crash, focused primarily on his neck. “I did quite a lot of checks and quite a lot of treatments in the first two days, mostly for the neck because I felt a little bit tight, which I guess is normal, but now I’m fine,” he said.

Leclerc added that the crash felt as dramatic from inside the cockpit as it appeared from the outside. “Sometimes it can look quite big from outside but from the car it’s fine. Going out I wasn’t feeling so well, but actually it was just the shock.” All checks, he confirmed, returned normal results.