Charles Leclerc has explained the cause of the crash on the formation lap that saw his Sao Paulo Grand Prix come to an end on the formation lap.
Leclerc was set to start the race from second place, but would not have the opportunity to challenge polesitter Max Verstappen on the 200m run to the first corner.
The Ferrari driver span into the barriers at Turn 6, citing a possible hydraulics issue when reporting his accident to the team.
“Hydraulics. Why the f— am I so unlucky!” Leclerc exclaimed over the team radio.
While Leclerc was able to get his SF-23 moving again, he only dragged the wounded Ferrari as far as the nearest escape road to withdraw from the race.
Despite a red flag for a subsequent multi-car incident at the race start, there would be no opportunity for Ferrari to examine or repair the damage to Leclerc’s car.
“When I lost the steering wheel I went straight basically because I had no hydraulics anymore,” Leclerc said explaining the cause of the incident to Sky F1.
“I don’t think it’s a hydraulic problem, I know what it is but I cannot go into too much detail.
“There was an engine thing that made me lock the rear wheels and then I spun and hit the wall so I couldn’t do anything.”
Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz was forced to sit out part of FP1 last weekend in Mexico after suffering a hydraulics issue. but Leclerc asserts that the cause of his spin on Sunday is unrelated to that incident.
“I haven’t gone into details with the guys but. What they’ve seen is completely different to [what happened to] Carlos [in Mexico.”
The Spaniard was also heard complaining about his clutch following the initial launch, adding that he couldn’t wait to “bin” the component upon the team’s return to Maranello.
“I was happy with my car,” Leclerc responded when asked if Sainz’s complaints extended to both sides of the garage.
“We are changing the settings between cars weekend to weekend. I think he was unhappy with what they have done on their side of the garage but on my side it was all good.”
