A new curse has emerged following Charles Leclerc’s DNF at last weekend’s Monaco GP and it’s not good news for Lewis Hamilton ahead of the next round in Barcelona.
Last time out, Leclerc suffered a heartbreaking end to his home race in the principality, crashing out at the final corner following the safety car restart.
The 28-year-old who just committed the next stage of his career to the Scuderia immediately blamed the brakes on his SF-26 for the incident, not the crumbling track which caused a major stoppage that lasted for 37 minutes and had to be investigated by the FIA.
The incident ended not only his race, but also his position as the driver with the most active consecutive points scoring finishes, and now that accolade has been passed on to his team-mate.
F1’s point-scoring curse out to get Hamilton
Heading into this weekend’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, it may feel safe to assume that seven-time champion Hamilton is on a high.
Not only did he secure a second P2 finish in a row last time out but he also jumped up to P2 in the drivers’ championship as a result of his points haul and a weekend to forget in Monaco for both Leclerc (DNF) and George Russell (P12).
But Hamilton now sits atop the list of drivers with the most active consecutive points-scoring finishes with seven to his name (Abu Dhabi 2025 to Monaco 2026) meaning he is now next in line to inherit the DNF curse.
For the superstitious F1 fans out there, let’s break it down.
Leclerc inherited the record of most active consecutive points-scoring performances following George Russell’s DNF in Canada last month.
Russell had racked up 20 grand prix weekends until his Mercedes battery failed in Montreal this year, handing the record to Leclerc who spookily also went on to DNF the following race.
Prior to Leclerc’s DNF in Monaco, he boasted eight back-to-back grands prix where he finished in the top 10, thus taking home vital points for Ferrari.
But after failing to cross the line in front of his home crowd, the Monegasque driver now has to start all over again in attempt to claim as many consecutive points as possible on his hunt to catch those ahead of him in the drivers’ standings.
And so, that record now passes on to Hamilton just in time for Barcelona, so tune in this weekend to find out whether the 41-year-old manages to stave off the statistical superstition.
