Charles Leclerc was left absolutely devastated after the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday, after the Ferrari driver failed to even complete the formation lap.
The Monegasque was supposed to start the race from second and was realistically the only person who could at least attempt an overtake on Max Verstappen at the opening corner; instead, the Dutchman started on the front row alone.
Leclerc started the formation lap with no issues but suddenly span into the barrier on the exit of Turn 6, with his rear wheels having suddenly locked-up.
Fans watched on his disbelief, as TV cameras panned to Leclerc holding his hands in complete disbelief.
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The 26-year-old was straight onto the team radio to inform the team what happened, whilst he also questioned why he’s “so unlucky”.
“Noooo, I lost the hydraulics, I lost the hydraulics,” Leclerc despondently said over the team radio.
“Why the f*** am I so unlucky?” Leclerc asked himself, before repeating, “Why the f*** am I so unlucky?”
Leclerc did manage to get his car out of the barrier but simply drove it into a safe place to retire the car without the start being delayed.
With Mercedes’ pace having been so poor at Interlagos, it was a huge opportunity lost for the Maranello-based squad.
Leclerc found himself in the media pen during the opening laps of the race, where he admitted that despite his initial radio message, he didn’t think the retirement was caused by a “hydraulic problem”.
“I could no longer steer and drove straight because the hydraulics failed,” Leclerc explained to Sky Sports F1.
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“But I don’t think it was a hydraulic problem,” he admitted. “I think I know what was going on, but I can’t go into too much detail. Because of something with the engine, the rear wheels locked up and I spun off the track and hit the wall. There was nothing I could do.”
Interestingly, Carlos Sainz suffered from a hydraulics issue at the recent Mexican Grand Prix; however, Leclerc has insisted that the two incidents aren’t related.
“Of course I haven’t looked at it in detail yet, but what the team has seen so far suggests that it was something completely different.”