In a disastrous turn of events, Charles Leclerc’s engine simply “switched off” during the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona over the weekend, forcing the Monegasque to retire from the race.
Team Ferrari suffered a major setback as Charles Leclerc’s car, whilst battling for position midway into the race, lost power and was unable to move on the exit of a corner. He was ultimately able to get the car going again and managed to make it to the pits before calling it quits for the day.
The pilot was clearly disappointed but remained optimistic despite the bad day, saying on his Instagram account: “Top 5 was on the cards today. Unfortunately, the car switched off in the last chicane. We’ll investigate where the issue came from. Positive race otherwise but still far from where we want to be. Onto the next race.”
Leclerc told Sky Sports after the race that prior to the engine’s failure and despite the hot conditions, he was feeling quite confident of a solid finish, but fate intervened.
“There were two issues. The first is that the engine switched off, then I tried to switch it on again.
“When I saw it wasn’t going, when I saw it wasn’t starting again, I took off my seatbelt. Then I had to box again for the seatbelt but unfortunately the race was already over before that, when the engine switched off. It is a shame, but we will work to understand what went wrong.”
The race was won by Lewis Hamilton who is virtually unstoppable this season. His lead was a massive 24 seconds and the British pilot dominated from start to finish. Last week’s winner, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, came in at the number two spot and Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas, took third.