Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc says only the third practice session was the high point in F1 Monaco GP which ended up being a weekend to forget for the Monegasque.
Leclerc’s luck at his home event in Monaco has been terrible so far with four non-finishes in four attempts – two in F2 and two in F1. It just hasn’t worked out for him for some reason or the other and it only got worse last weekend with Ferrari.
It was fine on Thursday and looked much better on Saturday when he topped the FP3 session. However, it turned to bad in the qualifying when he couldn’t get a quick first lap. He missed the weighbridge and had to be pushed back manually.
The team then took a gamble to sit the Q1 session out but their worst nightmare proved to be true when he was knocked out to be only 16th. Ironically, it was his teammate Sebastian Vettel who pushed him out after his late quick lap.
The Monegasque was livid naturally but Mattia Binotto explained that the gamble was to help the driver in Q2 and Q3 but it wasn’t to be. For the grand prix, Leclerc only had aggression on mind which started off well but soon ended in a disaster.
He got through Haas’ Romain Grosjean at Rascasse after few laps of trying and went for a same move on Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg but his right-rear touched the barrier which resulted in a puncture as he dragged his car into the pits after a full lap.
The pace at which he limped back into the pits undone his floor and even with double stops, there was no way he could have scored any points with the loss of downforce. Post-race Hulkenberg called it a bit immature to push through like that.
The Monegasque wasn’t in the mood to discuss his moves much but more disappointed with the whole weekend where he though only FP3 was a high point. “It was fun at the beginning which turned into a disaster which is really sad,” he said.
“I gave it my all knowing that I had to do something different and take a lot of risks to fight my way forward after starting in 15th position. While overtaking Nico on Lap 9, I clipped the rear on the wall and our cars touched which damaged my rear tyre and the floor.
“We tried to continue racing on a new set of tyres but we were just lacking too much downforce after the incident and had to retire. I think performance wise, it was good in FP3 and apart from that, it was a weekend to forget.”
Apart from Leclerc’s miss, Ferrari actually had a decent outing with Vettel finishing second and thereby ending Mercedes run of 1-2 finishes. He was third on the road but penalty for Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen helped for the cause.
While many though Leclerc pushed very hard but Binotto felt it was the right attitude from the Monegasque. “Charles had a strong start, knowing that he’d have to fight his way up the order after his race was compromised by what happened in qualifying,” said Binotto.
“It was a good getaway, but being aggressive always carries a risk. He pulled off some nice passing moves, but on his last one, maybe he tried just a bit too hard. But that’s the right attitude. He proved that he is not the sort to ever give up or surrender.”
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Here’s how the F1 Monaco GP panned out
Sergio Perez nearly collected two marshals at pit exit
Lewis Hamilton explains his defence against Max Verstappen
Daniel Ricciardo, Kevin Magnussen undone by strategy