Charles Leclerc labelled his Ferrari SF90 as “undriveable” in the wake of his clash with Nico Hulkenberg, as his dismal home record in Monaco continued.
Leclerc started from 15th on the grid and made early progress by passing Lando Norris and Romain Grosjean, but came to grief when he clashed with Hulkenberg through Rascasse.
Leclerc sustained a right-rear puncture and in trying to recover to the pit lane the flailing rubber destroyed the floor of his car, and he was retired by Ferrari.
“I think the engineers didn’t see it because it was on the right side and they were looking at the left side,” Leclerc said on why he was initially kept out.
“The left side was actually not that damaged but the right side was just completed gone.
“Of course I never give up, but this time it was just not realistic to still go because we lost like I think 75 points.
“To normal people, that’s maybe not a number they hear often but it’s like 80 per cent of downforce we have on the car so it was just undriveable.”
Leclerc has retired from all four races that he has started in Monaco.
He failed to finish either the Formula 2 Feature Race or Sprint Race in 2017, owing to a suspension issue and a collision, while last season a brake failure pitched him into the back of Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley.
“I think since I came here I never ended a race in my home grand prix,” he said.
“Race one and race two in Formula 2 I stopped. Last year I stopped. This year I stopped.
“So it’s a shame. It’s very disappointing because obviously 15th was not our starting position.
“I tried, I knew I had to take risks, and unfortunately we didn’t end the race with a crash in Rascasse, but before that it was still a fun race for me doing some overtakes.”
