The curse continues for Charles Leclerc in Monaco. Undermined by the headwinds, the “?little prince of Monaco?” has again failed in his quest for triumph in front of his family. Fourth in a Monaco Grand Prix won by Sergio Pérez, the Ferrari driver also had a bad operation in the world championship standings, where he is now nine points behind Max Verstappen, third this Sunday. “?We can be very happy with our Sunday, it’s something I couldn’t imagine last night?”, rejoiced the Dutch world champion, yet rarely fulfilled by a third place. But this place on the podium, combined with the victory of its Mexican partner, was legitimately enough to delight the Red Bull team, far from being the fastest in the streets of Monte-Carlo.
Ferrari seemed more likely to win in the Principality, where the public darling could reasonably expect victory. Because, unlike last year, when he was never able to take the start due to a crash in qualifying, his pole position achieved on Saturday suffered no challenge. On the front line in front of his partner Carlos Sainz (second like last year), the Monegasque advanced as the arch-favorite of a grand prix where he finally wanted to defeat the Indian sign.
But the skies began to darken minutes before lights out, where a deluge of rain battered the Cote d’Azur, leading to an hour-long delayed start. A first thorn in the side of a Leclerc more than ever expected on his land. Before the scoumoune caused by… his team. A solid leader in a grand prix that looked like a long procession due to weather conditions, the Ferrari driver was misguided after a strategic mess by his team. Invited to return to the pits in a hurry, then to stay on the track – too late -, the Monegasque gave up the race lead to Pérez. Definitively. “‘Guys, what have you done? “, railed on the radio this driver usually calm and posed. Two hours later, at the end of a grand prix amputated by about twenty laps due to a red flag caused by the violent exit Schumacher, the anger had not subsided in the regional stage. “?I am disgusted, he confirmed with reddened eyes at the microphone of Canal. I did everything right from the start of the race and I was asked to change tires four laps early. We had everything to win but we threw it in the trash. It shouldn’t happen too often…”
Finally at the wheel of a competitive Ferrari and legitimate candidate for the title of world champion, the number 1 driver of the Scuderia indeed had the keys to breaking the bad spell at home. Unwittingly, his team decided otherwise. “?The season is long but we can’t afford to do that, especially at home?”, continues the person concerned, who remained stationary for long seconds in his single-seater, distraught. A barely veiled push to his direction, he who had shown an always welcome caution on the roads of his childhood: “?It’s hard to accept but I couldn’t do anything more today…?”
In the end, the scoumoune caught up with him again in the Principality. Forced to retire on each of his previous outings at home, having made a mistake with Niki Lauda’s historic 1974 Ferrari two weeks earlier at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix, Leclerc again missed his year. A key date in the calendar still not confirmed for 2023, where the interested party is therefore not certain to be able to try his luck again anytime soon.
