During a test lap at the 2022 Monaco Historic event on Sunday, Formula One points leader Charles Leclerc wrecked an ex-Niki Lauda historic Ferrari grand Prix car with the crash video of it viral
In a parade with ex-Ferrari driver and six-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Jacky Ickx, the 2022 Bahrain. Australian Grand Prix winner was on his third lap on the 1972 Ferrari 312B3.
Charles Leclerc Crash In Niki Lauda Ferrari 312 Car At The Historic Monaco GP Video Goes Viral
Leclerc crashes in Monaco 💥
Charles Leclerc lost the rear end of a classic Ferrari 312 at the Monaco Historique 😣 #F1 #Formula1 #CharlesLeclerc #GrandPrixMonacoHistorique #Autosport
— Autosport (@autosport) May 15, 2022
What Happened:
Leclerc began with a sluggish sighter lap but quickly ramped up the speed. Eventually losing the rear of the 312B3 entering the legendary La Rascasse right-hander on his third lap.
The Monaco resident backed the car into the barricades, causing the rear wing to fly off. He quickly made a hand gesture indicating an issue with the pedals.
Soon after, Leclerc returned, but with flames billowing from the back of his vehicle. And Ickx pulled down a little further up the road in his earlier 312B.
Before speaking with Ickx, a frustrated-looking Leclerc and a couple of marshals surveyed the damage.
“It was fortunate that I had it at that time since it would have been useless if I had it somewhere… The issue is that I was terrified. I came in the corner as usual.”
“When you thought you’d had enough bad luck in Monaco, you lose the brakes entering rascasse with one of the most legendary vintage Ferrari Formula 1 cars,” he later tweeted.
The flat-12-powered 312B3 was, paradoxically, the car that caused Ickx to leave Ferrari after the 1973 Italian GP due to poor dependability and performance.
Its improved ‘-74′ successor was then driven to second place in the constructors’ championship by Lauda. Clay Regazzoni in 1974, behind the McLaren M23.
Methuselah Racing, located in Cologne and directed by Mario Linke, owns the high-airbox 312B3 Leclerc was driving.
Claudia Hurtgen would drive this chassis in the race for three-liter grand Prix cars produced between 1973 and 1976, which was lower on the entry list.
More Details:
Hurtgen, a former Abt Cupra Extreme E driver, was a late replacement for the Monaco Historic. But won the pre-1961 front-engine race in a Methuselah-run Ferrari 246 Dino.
That race was red-flagged, securing Hurtgen of the prizes at a track where the then-up-and-coming Formula 3 driver rolled. Seriously injured her hand in 1993, ultimately ending a single-seater career that had the potential to go to F1.
The 312B3 used by Leclerc was not the same as the 312B3 used by ex-Ferrari F1 driver Jean Alesi in the Monaco Historic last year. Then he was involved in a contentious clash with quadruple Le Man’s winner Marco Werner’s Lotus 77 on the home straight.
Leclerc had been out in another vintage GP vehicle earlier this month, having memorably set pole at Monaco in 2021 before crashing. And missing the F1 race owing to the resulting car damage.
Leclerc has been driving Gilles Villeneuve’s famous 312T4 through Fiorano since 1979 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his death.
It was incredibly amazing, Leclerc stated when asked about the experience by Motorsport.com. Back then, automobiles were completely different.
“As soon as I got in the car, I could see that the safety that we have now is fantastic. And that pushing those automobiles with so little safety back then required a lot of mental strength.”
“It was like wood since the tires were the same ones that had been on the automobile at the museum for I don’t know how many years!”