Luck seemed to be on Charles Leclerc’s side this Sunday, given the difficulty of overtaking on the streets of the Principality and after having achieved pole position.
Leclerc grew up in Monaco, and now races the streets he rode the bus to school every day as a child. Earlier this week, he gave a nod to his childhood connection to the track on social media, sharing a heartwarming piece of art of himself next to his Ferrari talking to his younger self next to a go-kart.
A victory in Monaco would have meant the world to Leclerc , but even finishing the race seemed like quite an achievement, given his dismal record on the streets of his country. In five attempts, the Monegasque had never seen the checkered flag in Monaco, which has left him with a “curse” that he tried to get rid of, but with a result he did not expect.
F2 2017: double withdrawal after dominating qualifying
The first time Leclerc competed in Monaco was in 2017, during his successful year in which he won the Formula 2 title, which would earn him a seat on the top-flight grid for the following year.
Leclerc led both practice and qualifying, taking pole by just twelve thousandths over Alex Albon. He was able to open up a sizeable lead over Oliver Rowland , but was caught off guard by a safety car period that dropped him to fourth. Things went from bad to worse when a mechanical problem with the front left tire after his pit stop forced Leclerc to retire.
In his column for Motorsport.com, Leclerc admitted he knew his weekend was “over” as he would have to start the sprint race from the back. He struggled to come back from 17th on the grid, and tangled with Norman Nato in an incident that saw him take a time penalty before Leclerc pitted and retired, scoring two DNFs to start his Monaco record.
F1 2018: a brake failure that caused a big accident
Arriving in F1 with Sauber, now present on the grid as Alfa Romeo, Leclerc knew he would not be struggling at the top of the table in what was his Monaco debut in the top flight.
Getting to Q2 was a remarkable achievement, securing 14th position on the grid ahead of teammate Marcus Ericsson, a more experienced driver. But progressing during the race would be more complicated.
He moved into 12th position going into the final part of the test, trailing Brendon Hartley, but a failure of his left front brake going into the Nouvelle Chicane saw Leclerc crash into the rear of the Toro Rosso car.
A retirement with six laps to go was not the way Leclerc wanted to celebrate his first F1 race on home soil, although the signs of pace that had been seen were encouraging.
F1 2019: Ferrari’s error in qualifying that led to a useless comeback
Leclerc arrived in Monaco for the 2019 race with a very real chance to fight for victory. Ferrari’s form in the first part of the season had been positive, and were it not for a power unit problem, it would surely have won on its second start for the team in Bahrain.
After topping the final free practice sessions for Ferrari, the Monegasque was in the hunt for pole position but did not even make it past the first stage of qualifying. The team was confident that his lap of 1m12.149s would be enough to see him through to Q2, but many drivers improved their times. This caused him to drop positions and was finally eliminated in Q1, achieving 16th position.
Leclerc was determined to fight, and managed to get ahead early in the test, passing Lando Norris and Romain Grosjean in the opening laps. But in an attempt to get past Nico Hulkenberg on the inside at La Rascasse, an overtaking spot he tried to use repeatedly in F2, the pair touched and he spun, sustaining damage to his right rear tire forcing him to retire yet again.
F1 2021: the joy of pole that turned to despair
During the 2021 season, Leclerc did not expect to fight for real success in Monaco. Although Ferrari had taken a step forward from its miserable 2020 – when there was no race in Monaco due to the COVID-19 pandemic – it was still somewhat behind Mercedes and Red Bull.
When Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz starred in free practice, Ferrari was quick to downplay their chances. He only started to believe he was in the mix when he stayed competitive in qualifying, setting up a tense fight for pole.
Leclerc took provisional pole in his first run of Q3, but as he struggled to improve on his final lap, he crashed hard on the way out of the pool, prompting a red flag. This prevented Max Verstappen from improving, which meant pole belonged to Leclerc, but serious concerns were raised about the condition of his car.
A gearbox change was considered by Ferrari, but the team felt there was “no serious damage” to the internals that would warrant any action that might result in a grid penalty. Leclerc would start his home race from pole for the first time, or so it seemed.
When Ferrari started the car for the reconnaissance laps up the grid, a problem arose that meant Leclerc couldn’t even make the starting grid. The team found detected a problem with the left driveshaft.
F1 2022: a strategic error that will regret a long time
Leclerc’s ill-fated Monaco record was a natural topic of conversation throughout the weekend, particularly after taking pole position on Saturday, but even speaking after qualifying, the Monegasque made it clear he’s not thinking of no kind of curse in the home race.
“I’m not superstitious at all,” Leclerc assured after achieving the privileged position. “We’ve had a trouble-free weekend so far, and we’re starting in the best possible place for tomorrow’s race. So hopefully we’ll have a clean race tomorrow, and finally get a good result at home.”
When he was on his way to a relatively comfortable victory after retaining his first position at the start behind the safety car, an error when calling the pits to mount the dry tires caused him to fall from the head to the final fourth place, by behind the two Red Bulls and his partner, Carlos Sainz.
This might not be considered a “curse”, but it is an unfortunate episode that deprived Leclerc of lifting the winner’s trophy on the streets that saw him grow up. Although the weight of finishing a race in Monaco has already been lifted, the Ferrari driver will have to wait another year to try to break that bad streak that has always accompanied him on this legendary track.
