It was not to be for Charles Leclerc in the Brazilian Grand Prix. For the second time in a short time, Ferrari appeared at the start of a Formula 1 race with only one car. Moreover, it was yet another breakdown for Leclerc, who says he cannot wait for the F1 season to be over.
Leclerc was in a particularly good position with a spot next to Max Verstappen on the front row of the grid, but the Ferrari driver did not even get that far. A mechanical failure caused him to crash on the formation lap, which saw his race end early. A frustrated Leclerc could be heard on team radio: "Why am I so unlucky?"
On returning to the F1 paddock, the 26-year-old Monegasque tried to explain what went wrong. "I turned into Turn 6, everything was fine and then as you can see, I basically lose the wheel because there is no power steering anymore, the steering wheel feels extremely stiff, then I go straight," he told F1.com.
"Then the engine stopped for safety reasons, which made the rear wheels lock, which made me spin. Then I touched the wall, I started to start the car again, I did 20 metres then exactly the same thing happened," added a tormented Leclerc. "I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know what to do anymore."
"It’s been a season to forget, there’s been quite a few races where I felt I was on it and then for some reason or other, it wasn’t the result I wanted on Sunday and today is part of them, so of course, the frustration is big today. It’s like this now, I need to get over it and focus on the last two races which are still important. I cannot wait [for] it to be next year."