For Charles Leclerc, the Monaco GP is a very special occasion. After all, it is the home race of the Monegasque driver in Ferrari’s service. And he loves the track, he is incredibly fast here. In 2024, Leclerc will start from pole position in the principality for the third time. But there is one problem with his grasp for the big home victory.
Statistically, there is not much to suggest this. In the case of Leclerc and Monaco is anything but a home advantage. Although he has been competing in Formula 1 here for years, and also in junior classes, he has only finished two of the seven races he has driven in Monte Carlo. Instead, he has an almost unprecedented run of bad luck here, regardless of whether his team has robbed him of victory or he himself has wrecked one of Niki Lauda’s cars. The complete series of disasters at a glance.
Formula 2 Monaco 2017: Double DNF for sovereign F2 champion
In his rookie season, Leclerc won the Formula 2 title in 2017 with ease. The Monegasque driver experienced his darkest weekend in Monaco of all places – the Prema driver was eliminated early in both the main race and the sprint race. However, Leclerc had done everything he could to be successful. He secured pole position for the main race, won the start against Alex Albon and was in the lead until more than halfway through the race. Then bad luck with the safety car set Leclerc back, before broken crash screens, which Leclerc said had been damaged during the previous pit stop, not only ruined his last chances of winning, but forced Leclerc to retire on lap 26 as the fourth driver.
The Monegasque started from far behind in the sprint. In a race without pit stops in Monaco, it was almost hopeless. It would turn out like it later did with Ferrari in Formula 1 (see below). After three successful maneuvers in Rascasse, Leclerc first collided with Norman Nato and received a ten-second time penalty. He later retired early due to a defect.
Formula 1 Monaco 2018: Brake failure for Sauber rookie
At his first home race as a Formula 1 driver, Leclerc was immediately in top form. Problems getting used to Monaco? Not with Sauber’s super rookie! In all training sessions, Leclerc left his teammate Marcus Ericsson far behind, and in qualifying the youngster even made it to Q2. But Leclerc was not to see the chequered flag in this Monaco GP either. This time through no fault of his own and in a highly dramatic way. After 70 of 78 laps, the Monegasque, who was in P12 at the time, retired with a sudden brake failure in the harbor chicane. His Sauber became uncontrollable, and Leclerc dragged Brendon Hartley’s Toro Rosso to ruin with it. At least Leclerc was classified based on the distance covered – in 18th place.
Formula 1 Monaco 2019: Too much risk after qualifying flop
Leclerc started the race from 15th place with a lot of anger in his stomach. He himself announced that he would have to take a full risk. Despite the narrow streets of Monaco, Leclerc had actually worked his way up to P12 after eight laps thanks to courageous maneuvers. Then he overdid it – as he once did in Formula 2 – in the Rascasse. When he tried to overtake Nico Hülkenberg touched the inside of Leclerc’s barrier. This led to a flat tire. On the next lap, the tire began to disintegrate. This destroyed the underbody of his Ferrari. Ferrari initially let Leclerc continue driving, but then he was instructed to park the car. The damage was too great.
Formula 1 Monaco 2021: Pole, accident & no start
The Monaco curse struck in the first practice session. Leclerc missed almost the entire opening practice session due to gearbox problems. Despite only four laps in FP1, the Ferrari driver immediately shone with pace. In qualifying, Leclerc was even provisionally on pole before the big showdown. Then there was a crash. In the second swimming pool chicane, Leclerc took too much risk, touched the inside of the guardrail and ended up in the next one at the exit of the corner. This secured Leclerc pole, but caused great concern. Had the chassis or gearbox been damaged? That would have meant a penalty or even a start from the pit lane.
However, after analyses in the evening and Sunday morning, Ferrari gave the all-clear. Everything was fine. Then came the shock before the start. On the inspection lap to the starting grid, the drive shaft broke on the rear left. This was a direct result of the accident the day before, as Ferrari later discovered. However, their accident procedure had not included detailed checks on the other side of the vehicle. Now it was too late. It could no longer be repaired so close to the start. Instead of starting from pole position or at least from further back, Leclerc was now unable to start at all.
Monaco Historic 2022: Leclerc crashes Lauda-Ferrari
Long before the Formula 1 race, Leclerc experienced the continuation of his Monaco curse in 2022. On a demo lap as part of the traditional Historic GP in the principality, he lost the rear of a 40-year-old Ferrari F312B3 from Niki Lauda and crashed backwards into the track barrier. The rear wing of the historic racing car was particularly damaged.
Leclerc explained the accident via social media – with a good dose of gallows humor because of his previous history in Monaco: “When you thought you had already had all the bad luck in the world in Monaco and then you lose the brakes in one of Ferrari’s most iconic Formula 1 cars,” wrote the Ferrari driver.
Formula 1 Monaco 2022: Ferrari’s strategic rain failure
In 2022, Leclerc even traveled to Monaco with World Championship ambitions. And underlined his claim to victory with his second pole. Then came Sunday – and the rain. And then came the Ferrari strategists. They were overwhelmed when it started to dry out during the race. First, they reacted too late when changing from rain tires to intermediates and caused Leclerc to fall behind Sergio Perez’s Red Bull.
But that wasn’t all: just three laps later it was time for slicks, but this time the Ferrari pit called Leclerc and his teammate Carlos Sainz, who was driving in front of him, in at the same time. Within just a few laps and with two pit stops, Leclerc’s lead had been turned into fourth place. Leclerc’s first finish at home couldn’t have been worse.
Formula 1 Monaco 2023: First punished, then no chance
Leclerc’s streak of failures was over, but he was still unable to win in 2023. He missed pole by just a tenth, which meant P3. Or rather P6, because the team failed to inform him about traffic at the end of Q3, which earned him three penalty places. The race seemed to be over anyway, but perhaps renewed rain chaos could have helped him…
Either way, the strategy was a complete failure. This time it started to rain, this time Ferrari left both drivers out on slicks for too long. Despite this, he still finished sixth. It’s telling when an uninspired sixth place is the least worst result of a career.