Charles Leclerc’s 2022 season has seen him so far take three pole positions, three fastest laps and two wins. The Ferrari driver is clearly making some fierce competition for current World Champion Max Verstappen. But ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, questions arise over how Leclerc will perform. The Monaco-born driver has notorious bad luck at his home track. So, what can we expect from him after looking at his track record at the Circuit de Monaco?
Monaco in 2019
In 2019, Leclerc’s debut season with Ferrari, he suffered a DNF at Monaco. In Qualifying, he set the sixth fastest time whilst most drivers had come into the pits. To save tyres, Ferrari decided to keep Leclerc into the pits for the remainder of qualifying. As expected, while other drivers were back out and improving their lap times, Leclerc got knocked from 6th, down to 16th. Charles got knocked out in Q1. He began the race in P15 the next day.
After making it up to P12, span his Ferrari on turn 17 of lap eight. He suffered a rear tyre puncture which ripped apart over the next lap, causing floor damage and debris spreading on the track. During this, he fell to last place. He pitted in lap 15 but ultimately had to retire due to the damage caused by his puncture in lap eight.
The Curse Continues
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Monaco GP was cancelled. The Monaco curse carried its way into 2021 for Leclerc, however. He crashed his Ferrari into the wall during Q3. Despite this, he still managed to qualify on Pole for the Sunday race. Despite his crash, none of the drivers managed to beat his lap time of 1:10:346. So, he retained Pole. Ferrari’s concerns over Leclerc’s crash meant his car had to be inspected overnight before the race. It was expected that Leclerc would be able to race the following day, but after bringing his car out of the pits on Sunday, there was a failure in the left driveshaft. Because of this, Leclerc retired from the race before it even began. Classified as a DNF, he didn’t even start.
Monaco Historic 2022
As a Ferrari driver, Leclerc is yet to finish a race on his home track. With a much more powerful car, the confidence of the current leader in the Drivers Championship’s, will Leclerc pull it off in Monaco? The Monaco curse paid another visit to the Leclerc as recently as May 2022, ahead of the GP itself. Leclerc participated in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix weekend in May. He was driving former F1 World Champion, Niki Lauda’s Ferrari 312 B3 round the streets of Monte Carlo.
In what Leclerc described as losing the breaks, he lost the rear of the car and ended up in the barrier, damaging the rear wing. Not only heart breaking for Leclerc, but it also doesn’t make his upcoming weekend on his home turf look very promising.
Everyone can hope that 2022 is Leclerc’s year to finish Monaco for Ferrari. But with the likelihood that he’ll be playing cat-and-mouse with Verstappen, will the Monegasque driver bring it home? The Monaco Grand Prix will take place from 27-29 May 2022.