Charles, who was on the dirty side of the road, lost a spot when the five red lights went out, but was still in contact with the trio ahead made up of Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, Racing Point's Sergio Perez and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen. He clashed with the Racing Point driver at turn 4, damaging his suspension which meant he had to withdraw from the race. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Leclerc comments, "It was a shame to be out of the race on the first lap. I was on the inside of Max, a bit behind, and I tried to go side by side with him to the first corner and tried to brake a bit later.

 

 

 

 

 

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The Ferrari driver adds, "I had seen Checo in front of me but expected him to stay round the outside of Valtteri, which didn’t happen because he braked a bit earlier than Valtteri and came back towards the inside of the corner. As soon as I saw him coming back, I braked but it was too late as I locked up my front wheel and collided with him. I am not putting the blame on anyone else, if anyone is to blame, it's me. Of course I am disappointed and it will be good to be back in the car in just a few days so that I can put this race behind me." 

After just four corners, Leclerc's race ended when he collided with Perez. At the end of the race, The Stewards investigated the incident and levied a grid penalty of three positions on the Ferrari driver for the next race in Abu Dhabi. It's a shame the team haven't been able to get a single point out of such a crazy rae day. As we look ahead to the completion of this season. It's best to focus for next year.