Charles Leclerc suffered his first DNF of the season in Barcelona on Sunday, but looks forward to bouncing back strong in Monaco next week.
The 2022 Spanish GP turned out to be another disappointing outing for Scuderia Ferrari. Leclerc started the race on pole with Carlos Sainz behind him on P3. On lap 7, Sainz spun out to the gravel on turn 4, sending him down to P11. It effectively ruined any chance for him to get on the podium on Sunday.
Leclerc meanwhile was having a flawless race. He was comfortably ahead of Max Verstappen, before a power unit issue forced him to retire the car. This means that both Leclerc and Ferrari have lost out on their respective Championship leads, going into next week’s Monaco GP.
Man isn’t even dreaming about winning.
He just wants to finish 😭— DarianF1 (@Darian_F1) May 22, 2022
Leclerc lead the Championship by 40 points at one stage, but recent struggles have seen him lose momentum. Sainz on the other hand, is having an even worse time, as he struggles to match his teammate and cope under pressure.
Despite his struggles, Leclerc assured fans that there were plenty of positives and that the team will bounce back strong at his home race.
Charles Leclerc remains calm amid issues regarding their power-unit
Temperatures at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya were scorching on Sunday. It led to fans wondering if that was the reason behind his PU failure. The Monegasque however, insists that heat didn’t have a role to play in it. That being said, they aren’t quite sure what led to this.
“I lost power and I had to stop because there was an issue,” he said. “I don’t know yet what the reason is. It hurts. But there are some positives, we have shown that we were quick.”
“It happens. Since the beginning of the year, we didn‘t have any issues. Engineers worked super hard but it can happen to us too! “Next stop is Monaco and I hope I will be able to see the chequered flag.”
Leclerc’s Monaco curse 😣
2017 F2 Feature Race: Suspension
2017 F2 Sprint Race: Electrical
2018 F1 Race: Brake Failure
2019 F1 Quali: Strategy Fail
2019 F1 Race: Collision Damage
2021 F1 Quali: Crashed
2021 F1 Race: Driveshaft
2022 Historic Demo Run: Brake Failure pic.twitter.com/16RzJUoiOQ— WTF1 (@wtf1official) May 16, 2022
After starting the season strongly, Ferrari are now showing some weaknesses, whereas the likes of Mercedes are now slowly finding their way back to the top.
Next week is Leclerc’s home race in Monaco. It is a track that has been somewhat ‘cursed’ for the 24-year old, because he’s had an issue plague his race every single time since 2017. Nevertheless, he remains calm and hopes for a flawless weekend in the principality next week.
