Leclerc crashes Niki Lauda’s 1974 Ferrari in Monaco

Charles Leclerc crashes Niki Lauda’s 1974 Ferrari 312B3 into the barrier at La Rascasse while on a parade lap during the 2022 Monaco Historic Grand Prix

The Ferrari driver is believed to be cursed at his home circuit, as he had yet another unlucky Formula 1 event this weekend.

Charles Leclerc’s special day did not go as planned after he crashed Niki Lauda’s 1974 Ferrari worth £1 million into the barrier at La Rascasse while racing at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix.

The Monesgague’s day was going to be extra memorable since he was going to drive one of his heroes’ automobiles around his hometown but everything quickly went sour as the 24-year-old lost control and crashed into the track-side wall.

Leclerc has had a fantastic start to the 2022 F1 season with the Ferrari driver now leading the driver standings by 19 points. However, his remarkable form in the F1-75 certainly did not translate to one of their vintage versions, leaving the 24-year-old embarrassed.

He was driving the car at a decent speed on the tight street circuit considering the fact that he was on a parade lap. As he began to slow down approaching the turn at La Rascasse, the back of the car suddenly let go and he crashed wing-first into the barriers.

Fortunately, Charles Leclerc who is currently leading in the F1 drivers’ championship did not appear to have been wounded. Commentators on the Goodwood Road & Racing YouTube channel claimed that the turn was saturated in oil/oil absorbent from prior accidents.

However, the damage was done as the rear wing was severely damaged and rubbed across the back wheel when he attempted to restart his lap.

This isn’t Leclerc’s first crash at his home circuit; he crashed during qualifying last year, taking him out of pole contention.

Leclerc posted on Twitter claiming the brakes had a fault, and indeed in the crash footage he appears to be gesturing with his hands that the brake pedal had fallen away from him.

A bit farther down the road, Leclerc could be heard discussing what happened in the previous race to Jackie Ickx, who was driving another vintage Ferrari F1 car behind him.

“No, but I lost the brakes. I lost the brakes! I braked and at first, the pedal was hard, and then it fell to the floor,” Leclerc said in French.

“I was lucky it happened there because if it had happened somewhere else, it wouldn’t have been good.”

Lauda raced with the renowned car in 1974, and it helped him win the Spanish Grand Prix and the Austrian Grand Prix on his route to a fourth-place finish in the standings that year.

This is not the first time the Ferrari 312B3-74 has crashed; Jean Alesi did the same thing last year at the same event as Leclerc’s horror.

Charles Leclerc will be looking to avenge his home track misfortunes this season when Formula 1 returns to Monaco for one of the sport’s most historic events on May 29.

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