Charles Leclerc never reached the finish line in the F1 race in Monaco.
Now he starts from first place and can reclaim the World Cup top spot.
Charles Leclerc was born and raised in Monaco. He has cycled and taken a street school bus where he will be driving Formula 1 tomorrow and has always dreamed of getting the finish flag in Monaco GP.
He still hasn’t succeeded – despite three attempts.
– I’ve seen every sweat since I was born. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been dreaming about driving it, he said when we talked about his home race prior to his Formula 1 2018 debut.
– I ride the school bus across the track every morning, walk or ride with my friends, but when it comes to a race car, it’s completely different. It can be difficult for an outsider to understand. But when you’re driving at about 300 km/h and also licking the ground, you suddenly see the curves in a completely different way, not at all like from a bus window.
Charles Leclerc could be the first Monaco in 90 years to win a Monaco GP and the first Monaco to ever win a Formula 1 World Cup in Monaco. The victory could also bring him back to the World Cup.
Ahead of this weekend’s competition, Red Bulls Max Verstappen leads the World Cup by six points. Meanwhile, Leclerc, with teammate Carlos Sainz second on the starting grid, is in a better position at the start. The Spaniard could be an important barrier in Leclerc’s battle against Verstappen.
You can read more about qualifying for the F1 race in Monaco here.
Sainz’s words about the accident
Qualifying for the Formula 1 race in Monaco ended with a big swerve, with a red flag as Sergio Perez drove to the limits of the track just before the tunnel, and Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, drove the jammed Red Bull.
Perez crashed in front of me and I was on my fast lap. Carlos Sainz said after qualifying that I first saw the yellow flag on Turn 8, exposed, but I couldn’t get past it without crashing.
In other words, the yellow flag came out too late, or at least Sainz caught the yellow flag too late. Now Sainz doesn’t matter much because he’ll start from square two, behind teammate Leclerc – if his car is now fine.
“We have to check the car first,” Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mikis tells Sky.
– The most important thing is that Carlos is fine, he could have ended differently. Now take a look at what actually happened to the car.
If the car survives undamaged, that’s an absolutely perfect qualification result for Ferrari. For Red Bull, on the other hand, anything was imperfect. It will be very difficult for Max Verstappen to climb further than third place tomorrow. Of course it is possible to drive again during the Formula 1 race in Monaco, but this is associated with significant risks.
Ferrari and Charles were very good today, but there was a second place at the start and I was on my way to it. Checo was slower than me and Carlos wasn’t much faster. I was two and three tenths faster than them when the red flag came up, says Verstappen.
The question is how much risk can he take on the narrow streets of Monaco? Perhaps it would be better to settle for third rather than risk making noise and zeroing in on points after a risky overtaking?
Serious damage to Perez’s car
The next question is about Sergio Perez’s car. How badly was it damaged? Is a new gearbox needed and what are the consequences for the future?
– It looks really bad and when Carlos met him he didn’t get any better. The car did a lot of damage, but we’ll see, Perez tells www.morsporttotal.com.
– I had problems on turn 8 and tried to go a little earlier with gasoline, but when I did, I dropped the strut in the rear tires. I played with it a bit to find the right one, until I completely lost the car.
Helmut Marko and Red Bull hope that the weather forecast will warn and rain tomorrow.
– So, Max is in his own row and then you can solve it with a good strategy.
Short news ahead of the F1 race in Monaco
There will be some exciting hours here tonight and before the race you will of course have the last F1 talk live. I start the live broadcast 15 minutes before the start of the race, at 14.45. The same link also contains the qualifying results.
Sebastian Vettel reached the third quarter. It’s his best performance of the year and once again beat Lance Stroll. During the week, it was rumored that Aston Martin wanted to manage a starting lineup entirely from Germany in the future, Vettel and Schumacher. Does Lance’s father, who is also the team owner, agree?
Mercedes George Russell beat Lewis Hamilton in qualifying. Hamilton doesn’t seem to like the car at all, and he also had a bit of bad luck with the recent red flag. The stable drivers complained a lot that the car was too bouncy. We’ll see if they can do more than finish the car tomorrow.
Alfa Romeo had been hoping for good qualifying and there was talk that their car should really be able to perform during the F1 race in Monaco, but Zhou was the last ever and Valtteri Bottas is not happy with 12th.
Expect a depot stop and start on the red tires tomorrow. You can read more about tires here.
At McLaren, Lando Norris again qualified better with a spot in the third (fifth) quarter while Ricciardo was only the 14th. Norris now has 6-1 in the playoffs against Daniel Ricciardo and pressure is building on the former Grand Prix winner. This week he received heavy criticism from the McLaren CEO and on Friday he crashed during training.
svenskolin
It’s time for the Indy 500 classic tomorrow, with Marcus Ericsson starting in fifth box and Felix Rosenqvist starting in box year. The pole position has Scott Dixon. If you don’t have time to listen to Plattan i Mattan, Episode 10. Do it. Felix Rosenqvist talks about the differences between the Indy 500 and other races during the season and also compares IndyCar to Formula 1.
It’s the most important race of the season and, for example, Felix believes that winning an Indy 500 is more than winning a championship. Here you can also read about Kenny Brack’s thoughts on the Indy 500. He is the only Swedish driver to win a classic and talks about how to master classic racing.
In the eleventh episode of the F1 Plattan i Mattan podcast, you’ll find a talk in front of the Monaco GP. Available in places where podcasts are available, or in the link above.
Gratis Dino Bejanovic!
Al-Farraj drove the Swedish rookie to second place in Monaco and leads the European Formula Regional Championship.
Chasing his podium! 🥈💥 pic.twitter.com/p3qzxtwg4j
– PREMA (PREMA_Team) May 28, 2022