Charles Leclerc is hoping to turn around a streak of bad luck at his home event, this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
While several F1 drivers live in Monaco, Leclerc is the only driver from the principality competing in this year’s grand prix.“For any driver it’s very special to race at home,” he said. “I’m quite lucky to have one of my favourite tracks at home – and a city track, I love driving on city tracks so obviously I’m even more motivated to get a good result there.”
However Leclerc’s two previous appearances in Monaco have resulted in disappointment. In F2 in 2017 he won pole position, kept the lead from the start and managed to avoid contact while setting extremely fast laps – until a disastrous pit stop saw him come out in traffic, with one tyre not secured properly.
Leclerc said earlier this year losing the chance to win his home F2 race felt even worse than missing out on his maiden grand prix win in Bahrain.
In his first F1 race at home last year, Leclerc suffered a brake disc failure coming out of the tunnel and collided with Brendon Hartley while they were fighting for 11th place.
Leclerc said he hopes to reverse his fortunes at his home track this year.
“The last two years have not been so lucky for me so hopefully the luck will be by my side this year and then we will see. But obviously I’m really looking forward to racing there.”
The last Monegasque driver to do so was Louis Chiron in 1931, 19 years before the world championship began.
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Phylyp (@phylyp)
22nd May 2019, 12:12
I can already hear Crofty chanting “Monegasque” innumerable times through the weekend!
isaac (@invincibleisaac)
22nd May 2019, 14:29
@phylyp I can hear it now: “Eclair comes across the line now and goes. 4th. fastest. That puts the Monegasque ahead of his team-mate Sebastian Vettel at his home Grand Prix.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
22nd May 2019, 14:36
@invincibleisaac – indeed, that’s exactly how I see it playing out :)
isaac (@invincibleisaac)
22nd May 2019, 19:23
@phylyp Most of the commentators I’ve heard really seem to overplay driver’s nationalities: “But the Finn is gonna come back! And Raikkonen retakes the teenager.” I know that it is one way of expressing differences among the drivers and stating where they’re from, but sometimes it seems a bit excessive … or is this just me? Always a big deal when it’s someone’s home Grand Prix, but I can understand that a bit more.
Big Joe
22nd May 2019, 13:13
Slightly related. I remember a young Fernando Alonso calling Silverstone his ‘home Grand Prix” :) when he moved to the UK to drive for Renault.
Pjotr (@pietkoster)
22nd May 2019, 14:28
If you need luck to win you are not good enough.
Islander
22nd May 2019, 21:35
Driving errors are not ‘bad luck’, at least that’s how it used to be…..
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
24th May 2019, 14:36
@Islander Tyres not being attached properly and brake disc failures didn’t used to be called “driving errors”, and for that matter used to be called “bad luck” from the driver’s perspective.
isaac (@invincibleisaac)
25th May 2019, 21:20
@phylyp Well not exactly 4th like I predicted but we got the expected saying at 1:32 in this video ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzTDnK6AWm4
Phylyp (@phylyp)
25th May 2019, 21:35
@invincibleisaac – aah, Crofty 🙂
Trust me, he’ll be on a roll tomorrow as Leclerc painfully makes his way ahead.