Charles Leclerc’s bad luck at his home race, the Monaco Grand Prix, has become the stuff of Formula One legend.
Leclerc saw three golden opportunities to win the prestigious event slip through his fingers. The Ferrari superstar was born and raised in Monte Carlo, one of the nine districts that make up the Principality of Monaco. As a child he took a bus to school from the last corner stop of the city’s famous street race.
But Monaco’s favorite son has never won or stood on the podium. Heart disease seemed to follow Leclerc around his hometown streets and he finished just once in four F1 tests, and a further two Formula 2 races earlier in his career.
“I don’t believe much in luck, but it’s true that when you see the records, it’s not always easy on race day,” he said on Thursday before the race weekend.
The reasons for Leclerc’s bad luck are mixed. While Ferrari’s questionable strategy calls are to blame for two of the incidents on this list, a huge mistake from Leclerc in 2021 ensured the curse continued.
So why is Leclerc’s luck so bad? And can he reverse the ‘Lecurse’ in 2023?
2017: Double DNF
Leclerc’s poor run in the Principality began a dominant season that won the Formula 2 championship. After losing pole position to Alex Albon, Leclerc went the distance to start Saturday’s feature race, but was only overtaken by one mid-race safety car that shuffled him to fourth position. A mechanical issue then forced him to retire and meant he started Sunday’s sprint race from 17th. Progress on the narrow street circuit was difficult and after Norman Nato’s crash he retired again.
It was a rare off-weekend for Leclerc — his F2 season is widely considered one of the most impressive in the F1 feeder series in recent history.
2018: Double DNF
Now an F1 rookie with Alfa Romeo, Leclerc impressed by dragging his car into Q2 and out-qualifying teammate Marcus Ericsson. A top finish is always elusive in machinery but Leclerc was denied the finish when a front-left brake failure while running in 12th with six laps remaining saw him drive behind the Toro Rosso Brendon Hartley.
2019: Ferrari’s qualifying mistake broke at the weekend
Leclerc, promoted to Ferrari for 2019, arrived at his second Monaco Grand Prix with a real chance to win. Ferrari’s early season form was good and Leclerc could have won the Bahrain Grand Prix without a late engine issue. Leclerc has been the breakout star of the main races and has not finished outside the top five since joining Ferrari.
Leclerc took the lead in the last practice on Saturday but the qualifying quickly fell apart. Ferrari was confident that the time set by Leclerc at the start of Q1 would be enough to advance him into Q2 – it wasn’t. In the closing minutes, Leclerc’s name fell down the order – with his car in the garage, he had no power to prevent himself from falling into the elimination spaces. Starting 16th, a fired-up Leclerc got past Lando Norris and Romain Grosjean early on but collided with Nico Hulkenberg in the Rascasse, with damage ending his race.
2021: Got pole, didn’t start
Easily the most difficult of all Leclerc’s Monaco failures, as he took pole position but then made an unforced error that prevented him from starting the race. After a winless Ferrari 2020, Leclerc is in good form heading into F1 in the Principality in 2021 following last year’s Covid-19 cancellation.
Heartbreak would follow again in qualifying, but this time the blame could be laid at Leclerc’s feet. Having been fastest in Q1 and Q2, Leclerc set the fastest start time in Q3 to put himself provisionally in pole position. As usual, he came out again at the end of the session to try to set a faster time, only to clip the wall inside the Swimming Pool chicane. The contact destroyed the Ferrari’s front-right suspension and sent his car into the corner exit wall.
Ferrari chose not to change Leclerc’s gearbox as a precaution, something that comes with a five-place grid penalty. On his first lap out of the garage on Sunday, on his way to the grid, Leclerc’s Ferrari sputtered and stopped due to what was later revealed to be a driveshaft failure.
2022: Ferrari loses pole advantage
Leclerc looked to finally end last year’s curse, qualifying on pole position and avoiding any repeat of the 2021 mistake that prevented him from starting. Despite a delayed start due to a rain shower, things went well for Leclerc as he led the opening 17 laps, only for Ferrari’s strategic failures to be revealed again.
As the track dried, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez seized the initiative and pitted for intermediate tires on Lap 17. Leclerc and Ferrari waited another two laps to do the same but held off Sainz until on Lap 21, when he changed directly from wet tires to dry. wheel. If Ferrari can do that with Leclerc’s car, he will probably stay in the lead.
However, as he moved to intermediate like Perez, he still had to pit again. Two extra laps on the tire proved to be the race-winning moment of the race for the Mexican driver and when he and Leclerc switched to the soft tyre, Red Bull took the lead.
When it was all over, the order was Perez, Sainz, Max Verstappen, Leclerc, which is how they would stay until the finish. Leclerc had some desperate looks at the gaps on either side of Verstappen’s car in the final laps but had no way.
Leclerc later said he had “no words” to describe his emotions afterwards.
Can he end the curse in 2023?
Based on the opening five races, Leclerc is more of an outsider for victory this year than in 2019, 2021 or 2022. given the huge advantage that Red Bull has enjoyed this year.
The Monaco race is notoriously low on overtaking and Leclerc is considered by many to be the best qualifier in Formula One. Ferrari’s car has been closer to Red Bull by a lap so far this year – Leclerc took pole at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, also held on a street circuit, in April.
A third consecutive pole position for Leclerc will put him in a fantastic position to finally end his bad luck around his hometown roads.
Red Bull certainly felt that Ferrari had a shot at winning on Sunday.
When asked who he sees as Red Bull’s toughest competitors this weekend, last year’s race winner Perez said: “I think Fernando [Alonso]the Ferraris, I expect them to be strong as well, like in Baku.
“Obviously with one lap around this place they’re going to be strong. So yeah, I expect them to be strong.”
