“Charles Leclerc getting flashbacks to last season” - F1 fans react to sad ending for Ferrari driver in 2023 Bahrain GP

Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc had to retire from the season's first race after suffering from a mechanical issue in his SF23. The Monagasque driver was running third at the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP when he suffered a power failure on Lap 41 and stopped on the track.

Fans know well Ferrari and their problems in recent years and Leclerc's retirement today just added to their woes. They took to Twitter to comment on the retirement. Some of the best reactions to Leclerc's retirement were:

"Charles Leclerc getting flashbacks to last season."

"Ferraris reliability’s sorted then…"

"“THERE’S A FERRARI GOING SLOW ITS LECLERC”"

"it's ok guys, remember what happened to red bull last year (i am absolutely not ok, i cant deal with this rn)"

"Quick reminder"

"i feel awful for charles he deserves better than this car and better than this team"

"At this point you only feel bad for leclerc man"

"Leclerc. Sad start to the season."

"I feel sorry for leclerc but leclercs motor went:"

"Ferraris & Sudden Break Downs Classic Pair"

Same ol' Ferrari with their reliability problems. Leclerc out.

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Charles Leclerc and Ferrari's problems spill over into the new season.

Ferrari had one of the fastest cars on the grid last year, with the team managing to win pole positions in 12 out of 22 races. The car was really quick going into corners and would have been in championship contention had it not been for the team's strategy and pitstop mistakes.

Charles Leclerc arguably had a better car all season last year but Ferrari made multiple strategic blunders like putting on the wrong tires, double stacking when the pit crew wasn't ready, and releasing cars into traffic after a pitstop. All these errors resulted in the Scuderia losing valuable points and losing out on the championship.

Charles Leclerc had hoped for a better 2023 season with major management changes in the team. Frederic Vasseur replaced Mattia Binotto as the Team Principal and positive results were seen in the testing prior to the race in Bahrain.

Alas, the car suffered a power failure and Leclerc had to retire from the race. The retirement comes after Ferrari opted to change the energy store of Leclerc's car a few hours before the race. Ferrari has now exhausted half of their reserves for energy stores and may pick up penalties later in the season if they need to replace more parts.