As a home driver, all the spotlights will be on him this weekend, but Charles Leclerc realizes that Red Bull remains the big favourite, especially given the dominant car that Verstappen and Perez have. However, the specific characteristics of the circuit in Monaco will help Red Bull’s competitors somewhat.
In Miami, Leclerc crashed twice during the race weekend, much to his own frustration, the rest of the season also went through trial and error for Leclerc. During the race in Emilia-Romagna, a home race for Ferrari, he wanted to put things in order. Abundant rain put a stop to that, so that Leclerc will have to perform with a lot of pressure on his shoulders during his home race.
During the race weekend in Monaco, Leclerc can always do something extra during qualifying, but during the race it was often not easy for the Monegask. For example, Leclerc once seemed to be on its way to victory in Monaco, but Ferrari squandered that possible victory by making a strategic error.
This weekend Leclerc, just like the other drivers, will mainly have to rely on a very good qualifying. Again he will give it his all but Leclerc realizes he will need a ‘special lap’ to beat Red Bull in qualifying. At the same time, Leclerc also expects stiff competition from some other teams.
“I honestly think Red Bull will still be the team to beat,” Leclerc said in Monaco. “With a special lap we might be able to beat them in qualifying.”
If Charles Leclerc and Ferrari manage to beat Red Bull in the battle for pole position, Leclerc still expects it to be difficult to win the race.
“During the race they are incredibly fast,” said Leclerc. “But again, on a track like this it is very difficult to overtake. Not only is Red Bull fast, Aston Martin will also be in contention for the win and Mercedes arrived here with a car that looks completely different, I am curious to see how they will perform.”
“We will have to wait and see what is possible.”