Leclerc reveals fear at nearly missing out on rare F1 event

Charles Leclerc has revealed his fear at near-missing out on a unique opportunity with his brother Arthur at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. 

For the first time in F1 history, two brothers were team-mates in an official session as Arthur deputised for Carlos Sainz to fulfill the mandatory rookie FP1 session. 

The Leclercs became the first pair of brothers to drive in F1 since Michael and Ralf Schumacher in Michael's final Ferrari race at the 2006 Brazilian GP. 

It was not a smooth session for Charles Leclerc as Ferrari was forced to fit a third energy store to his car, triggering an automatic 10-place demotion as only two examples are permitted in a season.

It means he will start 11th at best on a weekend Ferrari must out-score McLaren by 21 points if it wins at Yas Marina - something it has never done - or by 22 if it does not. 

"Unfortunately, as soon as we fired up the car, we saw that there was a problem with the energy store," he explained.

"There were lots of things going through my head like 'am I going to drive with my brother?' which was a unique opportunity and obviously also the championship. 

"That makes our weekend a lot more difficult, but it doesn't demotivate me at all.

"McLaren seem to be quick, unfortunately, and so for now, they've got the upper hand, but we know it can swing one way or the other and we've got to stay on top of everything, and it won't be finished until the very end.

"Unfortunately, on our side, we've had a problem, and I'm not wishing a problem on anybody else, but we will just focus on ourselves and try to do an amazing recovery."