A brake failure put an early end to Charles Leclerc’s day while he was lapping the Monaco Grand Prix Circuit in Niki Lauda’s 1974 Ferrari.
Last weekend saw the 25th running of the Monaco Grand Prix Historique, with Stuart Hall claiming victory in the 1973 McLaren M23 in the race that covered the 1973-1976 era of the sport.
The M23 was designed by Gordon Coppuck, and Peter Revson and Denny Hulme took three wins between them as they ended the year third in the Constructors’ Championship.
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Lauda’s Ferrari 312T was on show having guided the Austrian to two wins in 1974, ultimately seeing him finish fourth in the standings as Emerson Fittipaldi claimed glory for McLaren.
Leclerc was given the opportunity of a lifetime when he headed out onto the circuit in Monaco and completed some running in front of his home fans and the apartment where he lives.
The Monegasque has had notoriously bad luck racing on the streets where he grew up on as a child. He crashed with Brendon Hartley in 2018 when his brakes failed, before a mistake from Ferrari in 2019 saw him start last.
In his haste to recover up the order, he made contact with Nico Hulkenberg, ultimately giving him a race-ending puncture.
The 24-year-old’s last visit ended when he crashed in qualifying having already taken pole, and the damage incurred to the drive shaft ruled him out of the race.
His misfortune continued on Sunday after another brake failure put him into the wall at La Rascasse, executing a reverse version of Michael Schumacher’s famous accident in 2006.
He caused damage to the rear of the car and dispensed some debris onto the circuit, before taking the car back onto the home straight and clambering out to inspect the damage.
He took to Twitter to explain what happened.
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“When you thought you already had all the bad luck of the world in Monaco and you lose the brakes into rascasse with one of the most iconic historical Ferrari Formula 1 car,” he said.
With the world championship leader’s customary Monaco crash out the way, could it finally lift the curse as he goes in search of his maiden home win in a fortnight?