Charles Leclerc wants a seamless outing in his home race in Monaco, after years of suffering heartbreak in one form or the other. His weekend went off to a decent start, with Ferrari showing an improved pace around the streets of the Principality. As far as winning the Monaco GP goes, Leclerc said in the post-race interview that he is convinced about himself being in the fight.
In FP1, Leclerc finished P5, a session that his teammate Carlos Sainz topped. For the latter, however, FP2 turned out to be disastrous after his crash in the swimming pool chicane brought out the red flag. Despite the shunt, Sainz finished P3, behind Leclerc.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen managed to climb back to the top of the charts in FP2. This was particularly impressive considering how much he struggled in the first session of the day. Regardless, Leclerc is confident about using Ferrari’s only advantage over Red Bull to topple Verstappen in qualifying.
Charles Leclerc is ready to use his strength over Max Verstappen
Red Bull has been the most dominant team of the 2023 season so far. One of their main strengths has been their incredible straight-line speed with the DRS open, which no one has been able to match. In Monaco, however, straight-line speed won’t give Red Bull a big advantage. This is where Leclerc and Ferrari’s game plan comes into effect.
After the FP2 session yesterday, Leclerc revealed that he will capitalize on Red Bull’s weakness by playing to his own strength. What he was referring to was, of course, Ferrari’s pace over the course of a single lap. In qualifying, Leclerc and Ferrari have shown, plenty of promise, and they want to continue doing so in Monaco this weekend.
“We are okay,” he said. “But Aston Martin and Red Bull seem very quick as well, so we still need a step forward. There’s lots of talk about my last race but qualifying has always been one of my strengths so I’m not worried, I’ll go for it and let’s see what happens.”
Why qualifying could determine the outcome for Sunday’s Monaco GP?
Monaco is a unique track for plenty of reasons. However, it has also received its fair share of criticism in the recent past because of the lack of racing action its layout provides drivers with. The streets are narrow, and the cars are too big to make moves without taking a huge risk.
Leclerc, who already knows what its like to take pole position in Monaco, understands how crucial track position can be. Lack of overtaking opportunities in the actual race could make qualifying determine the outcome of the Monaco GP.
On the other hand, Leclerc started last year’s race from pole, but still managed to finish P4 due to Ferrari’s strategy blunders. This year, the hometown hero will be hoping to avoid a similar goof up on his team’s part, as he looks to shake off the ‘Monaco GP curse’.
