Leclerc crashes ex-Niki Lauda Ferrari F1 car at Monaco Historic GP

The 2022 Bahrain and Australian GP winner was on his third lap aboard the 1972 Ferrari 312B3 as part of a parade alongside ex-Ferrari driver and six-time Le Mans victor Jacky Ickx.

Leclerc headed out for a slow sighter lap but soon picked up the pace and on his third lap, lost the rear of the 312B3 into the famous La Rascasse right-hander.

The Monaco resident backed the car into the barriers and dislodged the car’s rear wing. He immediately gesticulated with his hands to intimate a problem with the pedals.

Leclerc did resume before long but pulled up on the main straight with smoke wafting from the rear of his car, and Ickx stopped a little further up the road in his earlier 312B.

A frustrated-looking Leclerc and a pair of marshals inspected the damage before chatting with Ickx.

Leclerc was recorded saying: “I lost the brakes. I lost the brakes!

“I braked, the pedal was hard, and it went to the floor.

“I was lucky to have it at that moment, because if I had had it at another place, it was no good… the problem is that I got scared. I arrived normally in the corner.”

He later tweeted: “When you thought you already had all the bad luck of the world in Monaco and you lose the brakes into rascasse with one of the most iconic historical Ferrari Formula 1 car."

Leclerc crashes in Monaco

Charles Leclerc lost the rear end of a classic Ferrari 312 at the Monaco Historique #F1 #Formula1 #CharlesLeclerc #GrandPrixMonacoHistorique #Autosport

pic.twitter.com/DnRTwKeYOm

Gallery: These are the worst accidents in Formula 1 history (StarsInsider)

The 312B3 was, somewhat ironically, the flat-12-powered car that prompted Ickx to quit Ferrari following the 1973 Italian GP due to poor reliability and performance.

Its developed ‘-74’