Leclerc’s pace belies stiff competition for season’s most important pole

Approaching two years since his last grand prix victory, exactly two months since Ferrari’s last win and one week from being beaten to victory by two of his fiercest rivals at the track named after his team’s founder, Charles Leclerc headed into the start of his home grand prix weekend as motivated as it was possible for him to be.

And after finishing the first day of running as the quickest driver in the field, slightly ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamiltonbut far further ahead of several other rivals – including Max Verstappen – surely he could be satisfied, enthused and even optimistic about his prospects of finally getting to stand on the top step of the podium in the city he’s called home all his life on Sunday?

The answer, it seems, is no.

“The long run is a disaster,” he told new race engineer Brian Bozzi as he rounded Casino Square after taking the chequered flag. “We were so slow.”

As much as Ferrari and its many fans could take some heart from the results of the opening day of practice, it’s never that simple when it comes to Leclerc at Monaco. Fate always seems primed with some inventive disappointment for his home race.

Whether through a strategic blunder on behalf of his team (2019, 2022), a mechanical failure (2018) or by his own hand (2021) Leclerc sometimes seems like the protagonist in a dark comedy chronicling the life of someone doomed to see the achievement of their ultimate dreams snatched away over and over.

But after the end of Friday, many of Leclerc’s rivals including Verstappen himself – winner of two of the last three Monte Carlo races – picked the local hero as the one to beat over the rest of the weekend. However, although Leclerc was quickest over a single lap, his high fuel runs on mediums did leave a little to be desired.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

After pushing early on his mediums at the beginning of the run, pacing in the low 1’15s, he fell into the 1’16s and even 1’17s, putting him on a level pace or slightly slower than the two Mercedes of Hamilton and George Russell, the Red Bull of Sergio Perez or the McLaren of Oscar Piastri. Verstappen opted for a run on hard tyres, making his not a direct comparison to Leclerc, but the world champion’s lap times were more consistent than his Ferrari counterparts.

Leclerc seemed to recognise why this was the case before he had climbed out of the cockpit of his car at the end of second practice. “I think the fact we were very fast on the first set of tyres [meant] we killed these tyres,” he told Bozzi.

McLaren did not run any softs during the second session after choosing to make use of a set in the earlier session due to concerns about potential rain. But the team that could well have had the fastest car last weekend were happy with their showing, with Piastri saying he expects an intense battle in qualifying tomorrow.

“Ferrari look quick, Red Bull look good, Mercedes have looked a lot stronger this weekend so far, so it’s very tight at the front,” Piastri said.

“It’s been very, very tight between everybody today. So everyone will try and tune up the cars tomorrow and give it a good run. I think it’s going to be exciting because I think it’s very much in the drivers’ hands. It looks like it’s a lot of quick cars out there. So whoever nails the lap is probably gonna end up on pole.”

Qualifying is always a critical part of the weekend, but in Monaco, it is effectively an extension of the race itself, given how difficult overtaking is. Although Leclerc may not have been fully satisfied with his high fuel pace, his flying lap performance was more encouraging. Throughout their best push laps, Leclerc was generally able to carry more speed through the twists and turns and pick up the throttle earlier.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

But there were also encouraging signs for many of his competitors also. Hamilton was able to brake noticeably later than Leclerc and many of the cars ahead of him in the times on his best push lap of the second session, while Fernando Alonso had the best apex speed of any car through several corners and was even up on Leclerc’s best time until the exit of Portier. Meanwhile, the two McLarens largely held pace throughout the lap on their medium tyres – suggesting they have reason for confidence when they fit the softs in qualifying.

It appears to be building towards a truly fascinating Saturday where qualifying could live up to its billing as being the most exciting and thrilling of the entire season – as it proved last year. Throw in the high chance of mistakes triggering a red flag at any moment and the even greater probability of a big name being caught out by faster traffic and hit with a grid penalty, the perils will be real and plentiful for all drivers throughout the three stages of qualifying.

If Leclerc is to beat the competition around him to pole, then he will have to deliver one of his best laps of the year when it matters most. But at least he can head into the most important day of the season so far knowing he’s done exactly that before.

“I’ve had two poles in the past, but then the Sunday result wasn’t the one I wanted,” he told the official F1 channel. “So, if we managed to do so – which is the best starting, place for Sunday – we’ll have to focus well on Sunday in order to put everything together to finally get that win.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Combined practice times

P.	#	Driver	Team	FP1 time	FP2 time	Gap	Laps
1	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’12.397	1’11.278		70
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’12.169	1’11.466	0.188	67
3	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’12.775	1’11.753	0.475	63
4	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’12.984	1’11.813	0.535	66
5	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1’12.396	1’11.953	0.675	68
6	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	1’12.954	1’11.962	0.684	71
7	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’12.789	1’12.062	0.784	48
8	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’13.229	1’12.099	0.821	60
9	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1’12.198	1’12.366	0.920	66
10	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1’13.425	1’12.257	0.979	72
11	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1’12.295	1’12.260	0.982	65
12	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	1’12.875	1’12.349	1.071	70
13	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’13.390	1’12.473	1.195	64
14	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1’14.159	1’12.554	1.276	67
15	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	1’13.576	1’12.569	1.291	68
16	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT	1’12.901	1’12.577	1.299	73
17	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	1’15.574	1’12.750	1.472	45
18	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	1’14.150	1’12.790	1.512	72
19	77	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber-Ferrari	1’13.248	1’13.057	1.779	59
20	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber-Ferrari	1’14.570	1’13.773	2.495	62

Teams’ progress vs 2023

2024 Monaco Grand Prix

• Formula 1 will fix red flag rule loophole which ruined Monaco GP – Domenicali
• Magnussen ‘could have backed off but didn’t’ in Monaco crash, says team boss
• Ocon defends his driving after ‘hurtful abuse’ over Monaco GP crash with Gasly
• How the midfield’s hottest team mate rivalry boiled over
• “He’s really dangerous”: Unheard driver radio from F1’s slow show in Monaco

Browse all 2024 Monaco Grand Prix articles