Charles Leclerc almost lost for words after more F1 heartbreak in Azerbaijan

Charles Leclerc might well be wondering if this year just isn’t going to be his year on the back of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with him suffering a retirement from the lead for the second time in three races.

The Monegasque found himself in P1 in Baku after the first round of pit-stops, having opted to come in and change tyres during a VSC, which had been caused by Carlos Sainz’s own reliability issue in the other Ferrari.

Indeed, things looked in Leclerc’s hands as he bid to get back to winning ways but the Ferrari engine once again let go, as a big plume of smoke was chucked up from the rear of the F1-75.

To rub salt into the wounds of a double Scuderia retirement, Red Bull earned a one-two as Max Verstappen led home from Sergio Perez, and Leclerc was almost lost for words speaking after he’d returned to the garage:

“I can’t really find the right words to describe [it,] it’s very disappointing,” he said to Sky.

“We’ve been fast and we didn’t change many things, if anything we’ve made it better, it’s difficult to understand.

“I don’t have the full picture of what happened today but personally again today it hurts.”