Charles Leclerc desperate to shake off misfortune at Monaco

Ferrari

Leclerc desperate to shake off misfortune at Monaco

Leclerc suffered a disastrous home race in 2019

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Sunday 16 May 2021 13:51

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc is hoping for a change of fortune at his home race in Monaco as bad luck has derailed his two previous F1 visits.

In 2018, on his Monaco debut in F1 while driving with Alfa Romeo, Leclerc's car suffered a brake disc failure on lap 70 that resulted in him crashing into the back of then Toro Rosso driver Brendon Hartley.

The following year, a qualifying strategy error left Leclerc to watch on from the garage as he was eliminated in Q1.

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In the race, despite climbing his way up to 12th in the early stages, he made contact with the barrier at Rascasse as he tried to overtake Renault's Nico Hülkenberg and was again forced into retirement.

With Monaco missing from the schedule during Ferrari's dismal 2020 due to Covid-19, the Scuderia has improved significantly this year to fight McLaren for third in the constructors' standings.

Leclerc is naturally now hoping for a better showing in the Principality. He said: "We are not yet where we want to be. We want to be fighting for first place on Sunday by making everything perfect.

"But I am really looking forward to Monaco. Obviously, it is a very special weekend for me, a weekend where I have not been very lucky in the past so I hope we can have a good weekend as a team."

With Ferrari outperforming McLaren at the Spanish GP, in which the main area of advantage was in the slow-speed final sector, Leclerc believes that bodes well for the twisting street circuit.

"Looking at the third sector in Spain, we were quite competitive there," he added.

"Of course, it is different but we seem to have a strong car so hopefully we can be competitive at home and have a good result.”