‘I’m getting used to this feeling here’ - Leclerc on heartbreaking Monaco DNS

The Monegasque claimed a shock pole position for Ferrari on Saturday, but a crash on his final lap of qualifying left him worried about picking up gearbox damage.

Ferrari had cleared Leclerc to start the race without a gearbox change - meaning he was due to start from pole - but an issue emerged on his way to the grid.

Leclerc returned to the garage but Ferrari was unable to get him out of the pitlane before it closed, meaning he would have to start from the pit lane at best.

Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies was then heard confirming to FIA race director Michael Masi that Leclerc’s car would not be taking the race start.

The DNS continued Leclerc’s luckless run of failing to finish his home grand prix since graduating to F1.

“In the garage it was very, very difficult to feel okay,” said Leclerc. “But I guess now I’m getting used to this feeling here lately. I’ve never finished a race here and this year I don’t even start it from pole.

“It’s a difficult one to take but I also feel for the team, the mechanics have done such a hard job yesterday to check everything.

“It was a bit happier this morning to see everything seeming to be okay and the parts were fine, and then this happened. So it’s a shame for everyone.”

Ferrari said the issue related to the left driveshaft and was impossible to fix before the race start.

“As soon as I felt the issue, I said I think there was a problem with the gearbox, but actually it was not coming from the gearbox,” Leclerc explained. “It seems that it is something else, we need to check still.

“Obviously I’m pretty sure its correlated to my crash yesterday but we will try and understand where it’s coming from exactly. It was coming from the rear left but I don’t know what exactly, so we will have to see.

“I wouldn’t speak too much because I am not aware of everything but what I know is that it is not coming from the gearbox and it is coming from the rear left of the car,” he added.

“Whether it’s correlated to the crash or not, we will have to see with all the investigations after the race, it’s early days to speak I guess.”