Leclerc laments tough Barcelona-Catalunya GP weekend as hydraulic issue forces Ferrari driver's retirement

Charles Leclerc was left to rue a difficult weekend at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, having been forced to retire late on while Ferrari team mate Lewis Hamilton claimed victory.

The Monegasque driver was on the back foot in Sunday's 66-lap race having crashed in Q3 which put him only P10 on the grid, although Leclerc was able to move up to seventh on the opening lap.

He soon passed McLaren's Oscar Piastri but found himself unable to make any further progress from P6 as the race entered its final stages.

But a mechanical issue sent the Ferrari driver off into the gravel on the exit of Turn 2 with just a handful of laps remaining, forcing Leclerc to crawl back to the pits before retiring.

"It's not only power steering, in general I had no brakes, no power steering, no shifts, so I guess it's something with the hydraulic there. I don't know yet exactly what happened," said Leclerc afterwards.

Leclerc's difficult Sunday was in stark contrast to Hamilton's, with the seven-time World Champion taking his first GP victory for Ferrari having utilised a three-stop strategy against the two stops employed by Mercedes.

It means Hamilton has finished on the podium in the last three Grands Prix, while Leclerc has not stood on the rostrum since Japan back in March.

"I don't want to take any credit for today, I don't think I did much for team," added Leclerc, having moved out of the way of Hamilton as the Briton charged up the order after his second pit stop.

"I think Lewis and the team won it on their own and I wish I had been a bit more in front. Been a bit more in the mix of things but I wasn't for my fault. A huge congratulations to Lewis who has been on it for quite a bit and has been incredible.

"And a huge congrats to the team who is pushing massively on upgrades and we are showing it now. It's good to see this, I'm just very disappointed in my side obviously."