What is The Monaco GP Curse? – Why Ferrari Star Charles Leclerc Can’t Catch a Break At His Home Race

The Monaco Grand Prix, often described as the crown jewel of Formula 1, has had a ‘home driver’ race on its street for the last few years. However, the streets of Monaco haven’t been welcoming at all to the ‘home driver’, Charles Leclerc. He hasn’t been able to achieve any kind of success at his home race to date.

Known to fans as the Monaco Curse, Leclerc has been struggling with this ‘curse’ even before he stepped into the pinnacle of Motorsports. He was hit with this misfortune for the first time during his F2 career when he came to race in Monaco in 2017. Since then, he has raced at the venue four more times but has not been able to shake the curse off.

Charles Leclerc grew up on the streets of Monaco and spent the majority of his childhood in and around the Principality. Getting the opportunity to race F1 cars on the streets through which he used to go to school was definitely a very special moment for Charles Leclerc. However, the results haven’t been that special for the Monegasque.

History of Charles Leclerc and the Monaco Curse

In his five attempts to race around Monaco, Leclerc has only been able to take the checkered flag once. And even then he missed out on the podium and had to settle for a P4.

The ‘curse’ made its first appearance in 2017. Leclerc arrived in Monaco as a part of the Formula 2 series. He had topped both Practice and Qualifying. However, during the main race, things went haywire for Leclerc. He dropped from the lead down to  P4 and then had to retire after a mechanical issue on the front left tire.

This meant, that Leclerc had to start the sprint race from the back. As is known widely, overtaking is highly difficult in Monaco and Leclerc struggled to make up ground after starting from P17. Things went from bad to worse for him as he tangled with Norman Nato and had to pull into the pits to retire his car. This double DNF marked the start of the Monaco curse for Leclerc.

By 2018, Leclerc had graduated to Formula 1 and was a driver for Sauber – now known as Alfa Romeo. It was difficult enough for him to make much progress with a Sauber. He was running a respectable P12 when his left front brake failed. He ran straight into Brendon Hartley at the Nouvelle Chicane which resulted in a DNF for both of the cars.

In 2019, Leclerc arrived in Monaco as a part of Ferrari. This was his first opportunity to break the Monaco curse and even achieve victory. Ferrari had shown some promising pace towards the start of the season. However, for Leclerc, it was bad luck again as he could not even advance to Q2. Starting from the rear end of the grid, Leclerc wanted to fight back and had even made it up the grid past Lando Norris and Romain Grosjean. However, the Monaco Curse struck again as he attempted to pass Nico Hulkenberg. He made contact with the Renault of Hulkenberg and damaged his car. He had to retire once again.

The Monaco Curse Continued Even After COVID

2021 was an even sadder story for Charles Leclerc. After Qualifying ended, it seemed like Leclerc had finally made progress on his quest toward breaking the Monaco Curse. The Monegasque had achieved pole position. However, the pole had come at a cost. Leclerc had crashed hard during Q3 which had brought out the red flag, which had in turn prevented Max Verstappen from improving and trying to get pole.

It was suspected that the gearbox of the Ferrari might have been damaged. But the Scuderia claimed that there was no serious damage to the car and sent out Leclerc during the race with the existing gearbox. However, Leclerc noticed an issue with his car on the way to the grid from the pit lane. He could not even start the race and the race started with an empty pole position. The Scuderia found out later that there was an issue with the left driveshaft of the Ferrari.

2022 saw Leclerc claiming pole once again. And this time, even though he managed to finish the race, a strategy mix-up by Ferrari meant that he gave up on a sure-shot victory and had to settle for a P4. Ferrari brought him into the pits at the same time as Carlos Sainz, which caused Leclerc to lose a lot of time. He could not recover from the error and missed out on the podium.

2022 proved that the Monaco curse is not only limited to the races. Charles Leclerc took part in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix a week before the main race. He was driving the Ferrari 312 B3, that was driven by Niki Lauda in 1974. Leclerc ended up crashing the historic Ferrari at the entry of La Rascasse.

The Monaco Curse in 2023

Charles Leclerc arrives in Monaco off the back of a very disappointing start to the 2023 Formula 1 season. After five races in the season, Ferrari has managed to claim only one podium place, a P3 for Leclerc in Azerbaijan. With Red Bull performing on a different level altogether, it is hard to imagine that 2023 will be the season when Leclerc finally breaks his Monaco Curse.

Charles Leclerc had himself commented on the Monaco Curse. After the 2022 Qualifying session, he said, “I’m not superstitious at all.” However, the 2022 Monaco GP also ended in tears for Leclerc. Therefore, it is quite evident that when the Monegasque steps into his Ferrari for the 2023 Monaco GP, the Monaco curse will definitely be at the back of his mind.