What happened to Charles Leclerc? Why didn't Charles Leclerc start Monaco GP 2021?

While it was jubilation for Red Bull and Max Verstappen on one hand, it was a heartbreak for Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on or hand. Leclerc became Monaco's first home polesitter for 85 years when he out-qualified Verstappen and Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas. However, he was unable to begin main race on Sunday. So, here is what happened to Charles Leclerc and reason why didn't Charles Leclerc start Monaco GP 2021?

What happened to Charles Leclerc? Why didn't Charles Leclerc start Monaco GP?

One of greatest Monaco Grand Prix highlights from Sunday's race was that Charles Leclerc was unable to start race from pole after having driveshaft issues in his Ferrari on first lap out of pits. Meanwhile, Ferrari F1 me it clear that issue did not seem to be a result of Leclerc's qualifying crash at end of Q3. Fans were notified of disappointing news on Ferrari F1's official Twitter handle when mechanics realized y could out fix issue in time for start of race.

After race, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto said that team still need to fully understand what happened. " failure is on driveshaft into hub on left-hand side, so it's not a gearbox problem we h. gearbox has been inspected yesterday evening, it has been rebuilt, and gearbox was ok for race. What happened is on opposite side compared to accident, so it may be completely unrelated to accident. But something on which we need to carefully understand and analyse. We have no answer right now," concluded Binotto.

While Binotto may have no answers at moment one thing is certain that Leclerc's duck at his home Grand Prix continues as he has failed to register a finish in Principality. Moreover, he also failed to finish race in both his Monaco appearances in F2. Speaking about heartbreak Leclerc said, "In garage, it was very, very difficult to feel ok. I'm getting used to this feeling unfortunately, I've never finished a race here. This year I don't start from pole, so it's a difficult one to take."

Monaco Grand Prix highlights: F1 standings 2021

With Charles Leclerc being forced out of race, Red Bull's Max Verstappen inherited first place on grid and went on to win race comfortably by nine seconds from Ferrari's Carlos Sainz. Lewis Hamilton's seventh-place finish in race meant that seven-time Driver's Champion lost le in F1 standings 2021 to Verstappen, who les standings for first time in his F1 career. Verstappen (105) currently les Hamilton (101) by four points in F1 standings 2021 after five races.