WATCH | Monaco curse returns as Charles Leclerc crashes the late Niki Lauda's iconic Ferrari

Formula One's championship leader Charles Leclerc must have gone through a horrible feeling when he crashed an iconic car at the Monaco Historic on Sunday (15 May).

According to a report by ESPN, the Ferrari driver was behind the wheel of the 1974 Ferrari of the late three-time champion Niki Lauda's 312 B3 during a demonstration run at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix in his homeland.

The sports website reported Leclerc had driven the vehicle for a few laps at his home circuit. Scuderia Ferrari posted a tweet to their Twitter profile: "Charles was having a great time in the #MonacoHistorique show run, really enjoying driving Niki Lauda's 312 B3-74, until a brake problem ended the run on his last lap."

Leclerc crashes in Monaco ??Charles Leclerc lost the rear end of a classic Ferrari 312 at the Monaco Historique ?? #F1 #Formula1 #CharlesLeclerc #GrandPrixMonacoHistorique #Autosportpic.twitter.com/DnRTwKeYOm

Leclerc posted to his profile: "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."

ESPN also reported that former F1 driver Jean Alesi had crashed the same car at last year's event.

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. ????

Video footage of the crash shows Leclerc losing control of the B3 at the Rascasse corner on the circuit and causing damage to the rear wing when the brakes had seemingly failed. He manages to pull away and drive the car off the track.

At the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix, Leclerc had secured a provisional pole when he crashed towards the end of Q3, red-flagging