How Monaco GP presents a unique F1 challenge – and why Charles Leclerc is desperate to finally triumph at home

The treacherous twists and turns of the Circuit de Monaco have not been kind to this small principality’s prodigal son. It took until 2022 – after two retirements and one devastating failure to make the start line after qualifying on pole, with a Covid cancellation thrown in the middle – for Charles Leclerc to finish his home grand prix. And even that was ruined by a strategy failure, confining him to fourth after also qualifying on pole.

Two years on, the Ferrari driver is heading into his sixth Monaco Grand Prix having never stood in the royal box overlooking the main straight, with Monaco the only race not to have an official podium for the top-three drivers. There is nowhere Leclerc, currently second in the world championship and trailing Max Verstappen by 48 points after seven races, would rather ignite a title challenge than here. The taste of winning champagne would hit different. You can bet it’d be expensive, too.

“Second or third is not really something that excites me,” Leclerc said on Thursday. “The win is what we need to target. We’ve seen in the last few races that Red Bull, McLaren and ourselves are pretty close in qualifying and we know how important qualifying is here so we’ll have to put everything together.

“If we are on pole, then that will give us a good chance to get what we want, which is a win.”

Leclerc added that he wanted to see where his Ferrari car was after Friday practice. The answer? Quickest in the second session and, in F1 spiel, by some margin: nearly two-tenths of a second to Lewis Hamilton behind him, with Fernando Alonso in third.

Of course it was Alonso who came so close to a first pole position in 11 years, 12 months ago in qualifying, before Verstappen pulled out a final sector for the ages to steal top spot and, effectively, the win on Sunday too. It’s near-impossible to overtake around this 3.33km track – and it makes qualifying on Saturday firmly unique on the Formula 1 calendar.

By and large, it dictates the leaderboard come the chequered flag a day later. It is the ultimate test of speed, skill and simply putting your neck on the line.

“Monaco is never very straightforward, even when you’re supposed to have the best car” said Red Bull’s three-time world champion Verstappen, who was only fourth-fastest on Friday, 0.583 seconds off Leclerc.

“Monaco is a very tricky track to get everything to work, to get the tyres to work in a qualifying lap, for example, red flags, there’s always a lot of disruption… plus in the last few years, Ferrari has always been very, very strong here.

“Plus McLaren lately, the last two races, really ramped up in performance.”

It is definitely McLaren who have the momentum at the moment after a May to remember so far. The pace of Lando Norris has been something beyond even Red Bull in the last two races. In Miami, the Brit cruised away from Verstappen after a mid-race safety car to claim his first victory and, last week in Imola, Norris came within a second of hauling in Verstappen’s hefty advantage.

“Monaco is always one that every driver wants to win at some point, just because of the history of this place, how unique and how prestigious it all is,” said Norris, fifth-quickest in FP2.

“I would love it… but I want to win every race, not just Monaco. We’re focused, in good spirits. Of course the motivation and the energy is very high from the team because we’ve had some great results lately. If we keep it up, there’s always a chance.”

Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri will sport a glorious yellow-and-green livery this weekend in memory of McLaren’s driver Ayrton Senna, who died 30 years ago and was a six-time winner in the principality. Senna’s exquisite craft at the wheel of a racing car made him an inspiration to millions, and nowhere could he show it better, year-on-year, than Monaco.

Threading the car through the eye of a needle is what will make the difference, come 4pm local time on Saturday, with rain on the forecast too. Yet beyond local residents Verstappen and Norris (who both live here, alongside the likes of Hamilton and George Russell) it is the true, authentic Monegasque that will be desperate to revel in that winning feeling again. Forty races have come and gone since Leclerc’s last win in Austria in July 2022; qualifying will, in all probability, decide whether the duck will end this weekend.