Charles Leclerc put his critical error in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix down to "dirty air" after he crashed on his final attempt to secure pole position.
Although Leclerc's Ferrari was quick throughout practice, the Monaco national has been struggling with a continuation of the braking issues that have dogged his performances at recent races.
Despite the issue, on his final lap Leclerc was setting sector times to rival those of Kimi Antonelli's pole position lap when he made a mistake at Tabac corner and hit the barrier on the outside, causing damage to his right rear wheel.
Leclerc said turbulent air at Tabac caused a momentary dip in downforce that meant he lost control of the rear of the car mid corner and was unable to avoid the collision.
"It was very much on the edge and I think it was very good lap until then," he said. "I never finished it, so it's a bit needless to say that.
"But yes, it was a good lap. I had a little bit of dirty air in that lap where I lost it in Turn 12. I don't know, there was no traffic in itself, it was just dirty air.
"It made me lose a little bit of rear-end entry and I touched the wall."
Leclerc said inconsistency with his car's braking performance, which he also highlighted at the last round in Canada, had been an additional issue throughout his Monaco weekend, making the entry to corners difficult to judge.
"The thing is that I'm definitely not knowing what I'm having," he said of the brake issue. "At the moment it's a bit of a discovery whenever I get on the brakes and I don't want to go too much into the detail and I won't go into more detail than what I've said.
"It's been extremely inconsistent and I've just been struggling massively, whether it was in Montreal or here, especially when tyres are just not in the right window and the tyre is also difficult on top of that, the inconsistency from the car made it very difficult.
- Monaco Grand Prix: Kimi Antonelli on pole for fourth time, Max Verstappen behind
- Monaco GP: Kimi Antonelli eyes fifth straight win after 'magic' pole
- Monaco GP, now and then: Exploring F1's iconic streets - in pictures
"Corner to corner it's not really behaving the same way. It's just extremely tricky. We are speaking about details, but I think the fact of being in or out the window of the tyre all the time, these fine details, makes a huge difference. I've just been struggling with it."
The mistake in qualifying adds to a catalogue of driver and team errors that Leclerc and Ferrari have made in Monaco over the years.
In 2021, Leclerc secured pole position in qualifying but hit the wall on his second attempt in Q3.
Undetected damage to the car's driveshaft hub then led to a failure on the way to the grid and he failed to start the race.