Charles Leclerc has revealed an issue with his chassis was behind the alarming loss of pace that saw him miss out on a podium in Formula 1 ‘s Hungarian Grand Prix. Leclerc retained the lead at the start and remained ahead across the opening two stints until a sudden increase in his lap times saw him drop back to a distant fourth.

“What?!” Leclerc replied to his race engineer, Bryan Bozzi, after being told the result. He laughed to himself afterwards: “Mamma mia. My God!” The bemusement initially hidden by Leclerc’s helmet remained etched on his face after he hopped out of his car and celebrated with his team.

Charles Leclerc revealed that the root cause of his decline was an issue with the chassis of his Ferrari, which started to manifest strongly around lap 40 and progressively worsened, making the car "u