Formula 1: Heartbreak again for Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc experienced more heartbreak in the Austrian Grand Prix, and the search for his first career Formula 1 victory continues as a result of it.

Only Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton, who has won six of the 2019 Formula 1 season’s first nine races and eight of the last 11 races going back to last season with just one finish outside of the top two, has led more laps than Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has led so far this season in his first season driving for Ferrari.

But while the five-time Formula 1 champion sits comfortably atop the driver standings with six victories and eight top two finishes so far this year, Leclerc is still in search of what would be the first victory of his Formula 1 career.

That search appeared as though it would end in the 21-race season’s ninth race, the Austrian Grand Prix, but the 21-year-old Monegasque was left shaking his head after he was faced with more heartbreak.

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Leclerc started this 71-lap race around the 10-turn, 2.683-mile (4.318-kilometer) Red Bull Ring road course in Spielberg, Styria, Austria from the pole position and dominated. He led 59 of its first 68 laps, only relinquishing the lead temporarily during his pit stop.

But Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, who started the race in second place but dropped to seventh before the first turn after an awful start, rallied from more than 15 seconds behind Leclerc to pass him on newer tires in turn three on lap 69 en route to a 2.724-second victory.

The winning pass that Verstappen made on Leclerc underwent a lengthy investigation since the way by which he pulled if off was deemed controversial, but there was ultimately no action taken against it and the 21-year-old Dutchman kept his victory despite false reports that he had been issued a five-second time penalty and thus stripped of the win.

Here is a video of this winning pass.

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1145354715061993472

Leclerc’s second place finish was his career-high finish in Formula 1, marking the second time that he has secured a new career-high finish in heartbreaking fashion in the first nine races of the 2019 season.

Leclerc also took the pole position for the season’s second race, the Bahrain Grand Prix, back in late March. He dominated this race as well, as he led 41 of its first 47 laps. But with 10 laps remaining in the 57-lap race around the 15-turn, 3.363-mile (5.412-kilometer) Bahrain International Circuit road course in Sakhir, Bahrain, his engine failed, and he fell to third place before taking the checkered flag.

When will Charles Leclerc finally break through with the first victory of his Formula 1 career? He undoubtedly has what it takes to win several races this season, so it will be especially interesting to see how he performs from race to race once he gets the monkey off his back and finally takes the checkered flag in front of the rest of the field.