Aside from the hydraulics issue that saw him retire on the formation lap, Charles Leclerc insists that he was happy with the SF-23.

Even if you weren't a fan of the Monegasque or the Maranello outfit, you would surely have been moved by his cry in the moments after he span off into the barrier on the formation lap.

"Why the f*** am I so unlucky," he said.

Though the race was stopped in the wake of the first corner clash involving Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen allowing Daniel Ricciardo and Oscar Piastri to have their cars repaired, there was no such reprieve for Leclerc, who spent the rest of the afternoon a spectator.

"When I lost the steering wheel I went straight basically because I had no hydraulics anymore," he subsequently explained to Sky Sports.

"I don't think it's a hydraulic problem," he added, "I know what it is but I cannot go into too much detail.

"There was an engine thing that made me lock the rear wheels and then I spun and hit the wall so I couldn't do anything."

In Mexico, a hydraulics issue in opening practice sidelined his teammate, Carlos Sainz, but Leclerc insists that the two incidents are not related.

"I haven't gone into details with the guys," he said, "but what they've seen is completely different to Carlos."

At the first start, Sainz had complained about his clutch admitting that he couldn't wait to "bin it" when back in Maranello, however, again, Leclerc insists that this is not related to his issue.

"I was happy with my car," he said. "We are changing the settings between cars weekend to weekend.

"I think he was unhappy with what they have done on their side of the garage but on my side it was all good."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Interlagos City here.