Brake disc failure blamed for Leclerc/Hartley smash

Charles Leclerc's first home Grand Prix in Monaco didn't end quite the way he was hoping for on Sunday.

The 20-year-old started the race from 14th place and was running as high as 12th when he started to suffer brake problems with 14 laps remaining.

"I felt like the pedal was getting very, very long of the brakes," he explained afterwards. "It was very inconsistent.

"Even putting the same amount of brakes on the pedal, it was really like 'not decelerating, decelerating and then decelerating.

"It was very difficult to manage and at one point they just gave up."

That moment came on lap 70 as the Sauber emerged from the tunnel in the run down to the Nouvelle Chicane. Unable to stop, he tried to keep tight up against the barrier on the right hand side.

Unfortunately there was insufficient space for him to squeeze into the run-off past the hapless Toro Rosso of Brendon Hartley, and there was a high-speed impact. The collision took both cars out on the spot.

The amount of debris into the chicane meant a Virtual Safety Car was needed, the only interruption to the race proceedings all afternoon.

Race stewards investigated the incident after the chequered flag, but were happy with evidence that Leclerc had not been responsible for causing a collision. Instead, blame was placed on a front-left brake disc failure on Leclerc's Sauber.

"He had an issue with his brake discs and could not avoid it," team boss Frédéric Vasseur confirmed.

For his part, Hartley accepted that it hadn't been Leclerc's fault.

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"I'm perfectly okay," he said when asked if he'd been hurt in the collision. “Charles and I spoke afterwards and he said he lost the brakes. It’s pretty frustrating, but that’s Monaco.

"We were strong all weekend apart from Q1, where we didn’t get it all together. I was happy with how I was driving today but ultimately it wasn’t meant to be.”

Leclerc's retirement on Sunday follows back-to-back points finishes at Baku and Barcelona. It was particularly annoying for him that it should happen in his home race.

"It's a shame it happens at home. Last year in Formula 2 I couldn't finalise it either, and again this year it's not possible. So it's a little bit frustrating.

"But in the end I think we've had a very positive weekend overall and this is to remember for the rest of the weekend.

"The race pace we were very strong," he added, ruing running most of it behind the Toro Rosso.

"It was just frustrating. I think Toro Rosso has played a little bit of a game, but to be honest if we had been in their position then we would have done the same.

"It was just frustrating for us because it was impossible to overtake. Brendon was slowing us down to that Pierre [Gasly} could exit his pit stop ahead of us.

"It' a shame, but again our pace was really good. Our qualie pace was also better than expected with another third Q2 in a row, so it's looking positive for the future."

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