Charles Leclerc suffered what was arguably one of the most heartbreaking moments of his F1 career in Monaco last year. After failing to convert a pole position into a win, the Monegasque driver was infuriated and described his helplessness in an interview with Canal +. Ahead of the 2023 Monaco GP, he vows to enter the race with a clear head and is ready to leave last year’s woes behind him.
Last year in Monaco, hometown hero Charles Leclerc was the favorite to win the race. At that stage of the season, Ferrari still had the fastest car and it was evident during qualifying. Leclerc took pole position, with teammate Carlos Sainz following him in second place.
Because of Monaco’s lack of overtaking opportunities, most people took Leclerc’s win for granted. That was until Ferrari made one of the weirdest blunders of the year by calling in Leclerc to the pits while Sainz was still having his tyres changed. This failed double-stack lost Leclerc a lot of time, and he dropped down to P4, from P1.
A helpless Charles Leclerc wanted to break everything
In his interview with Canal +, Leclerc stated that he wasn’t in a good condition after the 2022 Monaco GP. After dropping down to P4 from P1, he couldn’t move past any of the drivers ahead of him, despite his best attempts. Settling for fourth place in a race that he was destined to win, was gut-wrenching for the Ferrari driver.
“I wanted to break everything, I was not well,” Leclerc said. “Honestly, I had done everything to perfection. It was a perfect weekend. I qualified on pole position, in the race we had incredible pace. So there you go, finishing the race in fourth position, it was not easy.”
Many people feel that the 2022 Monaco GP was where Leclerc’s relationship with Ferrari took a hit. The 25-year-old has insisted on several occasions that he loves the team, but the race in the Principality last year was where things started to go downhill for Leclerc and Ferrari.
Leclerc wants to move on from last year’s race
Last year’s race was heartbreaking for Leclerc and his fans. It was a forgettable outing, and the Monegasque driver is ready to make sure that nothing similar happens this time about. Of course, Ferrari isn’t the fastest team anymore. That title belongs to Red Bull, with a dominant Max Verstappen at the helm of their championship charge.
“I will try to make it work this year,” he added. “Last year we didn’t make the right choice in terms of strategy and a lot of other things that didn’t work well during the race.”
Nevertheless, Ferrari’s pace over one lap has been promising and Leclerc has been impressive during qualifying. The 25-year-old will be hoping to utilize track position advantage once again in his bid to fend off Verstappen’s threat at the 2023 Monaco GP.
