Charles Leclerc’s troubles continue into the Austrian Grand Prix weekend. Leclerc and Oscar Piastri arrived in Austria with high expectations of challenging Red Bull and McLaren. However, Leclerc’s weekend has been disappointing, with a mediocre performance in the Sprint race and bad luck in the main race. During the run to turn one, Leclerc’s front wing was damaged after contact with another driver.
After winning his home race in Monaco, Leclerc seemed to be a strong contender against Red Bull. However, he had a Did Not Finish (DNF) in Canada and had contact with Carlos Sainz in Spain. Now, his streak of misfortune continues in the Austrian GP.
During the incident with Piastri, Leclerc lost a front wing endplate. Despite his underwhelming qualifying performance, Leclerc aimed to reach the podium in the race. However, his contact with Piastri made this goal impossible. He had to replace his front wing on lap one and fell more than 40 seconds behind the leader after his pitstop.
While Leclerc suffered significant damage, Piastri seemed to escape unscathed after jumping over the sausage curbs. McLaren inquired about the status of Piastri’s car, but he claimed that he didn’t think there was any damage. He later made a move on another driver, confirming that his race wasn’t hindered by any potential damage.
Currently, Piastri is in sixth place and in contention for valuable points. On the other hand, Leclerc is in thirteenth place and has already made three pitstops, following a peculiar strategy.