Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc Falls Victim to the Carlos Sainz F1 Curse Yet Again in Hungary

Scuderia Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz, secured the fourth podium of his career at Hungarian Grand Prix. And the Spaniard’s P3 finish at Budapest highlights a crazy statistic in his Formula 1 career – whenever Carlos Sainz has stepped on the podium, his teammate, Charles Leclerc, has had a DNF to his name.

Sainz secured his first podium at the 2019 Brazilian GP when Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel infamously collided and wiped each other out of the race. During the penultimate race of the 2019 world championship, Leclerc overtook Sebastian Vettel on turn 1. In response, the German tried to take his position back, but the two Ferrari drivers collided, with Leclerc suffering a broken suspension and Vettel getting a puncture.

The Spaniard secured his second podium a year later at the 2020 Italian GP. After the race restart on lap 23, Charles Leclerc heavily crashed his SF1000 on the Parabolica corner. The 2019 Italian GP winner lost the rear end of his car and collided with the barriers.

Carlos Sainz secured his first podium with Ferrari at this year’s Monaco GP. After posting a flying a lap and positioning himself as the provisional pole-sitter, Leclerc crashed in the dying moments of the Q3. On race day, during the opening lap, a failure in driveshaft was identified and the Monegasque driver suffered his first DNF of the season.

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The Spaniard clinched his fourth podium at the recently concluded Hungarian GP. And during the opening lap at Hungaroring, Valtteri Bottas made a poor braking judgment and collided with Lando Norris, who then contacted both the Red Bulls. Soon after, Lance Stroll locked up and crashed into Charles Leclerc, who had to retire on the spot.

Carlos Sainz has celebrated only 50% of his podium finishes on the actual podium

Another crazy statistic to Carlos Sainz’s name. As the Spaniard has managed to celebrate, only half of his podium finishes on the original podium itself.

During the 2019 Brazilian GP, Sainz, who started the race from the rock bottom of the grid, made a huge comeback to finish the race P4. However, the third-placed Lewis Hamilton was awarded a five-second penalty for knocking Alex Albon out of the race. As a result, the Briton dropped to P7, and Sainz was promoted to P3.

Something similar happened at the 2021 Hungarian GP as well.

Sainz finished the race one place behind the podium finishers, in P4. However, the Spaniard later inherited the P3 position from Hamilton after Sebastian Vettel was disqualified from the race.

The German, who secured P2, failed to ensure a minimum of 1-liter fuel in his Aston Martin AMR21 at the end of the race. As a result, the four-time world champion was eliminated from the race.

Read More: “I Would Have Liked To Brake First at Hockenheim, but… “- Sebastian Vettel Opens Up on His 2018 F1 Nightmare

Can Carlos Sainz end his curse and secure his first podium with no controversy? What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.