Charles Leclerc makes it a front row start for the F1 Monaco GP after qualifying in P2.
Leclerc was off to a great start, dominating the streets in all three practice sessions. He was gunning for a repeat of last year, when he took pole and won the next day.
Qualifying was off to a great start with Leclerc posting the fastest time in Q1, making an easy entry into the second part of the session.
However, the Monegasque’s P1 streak ended in Q2, when Lando Norris went fastest.
Heading into Q3, it was still all to play for.
However, on his first run in Q3, the Ferrari driver encountered traffic, which cost him time and a bit of confidence ahead of the final showdown.
Leclerc on his experience in Qualifying
In the press conference following the Qualifying session for the Monaco GP, Leclerc conceded that his disrupted first run likely didn’t influence the result.
Ultimately, the gap to Norris was too big despite Leclerc putting in what he says was a ‘good lap’.
“Oh, it was a good lap.
“Well, it was a good lap, but it was a bit of a tricky Q3.
“In the first run of Q3, I had Max [Verstappen] in the second sector and lost a lot of lap time there.
“So, obviously, when you don’t have that first time in Q3, then you have a little bit less confidence to go flat out on the second run.
“I don’t think this made the difference at the end of the day.
“I haven’t seen exactly the gaps, but I think it’s bigger than a few hundredths.
“So, yeah, it is the way it is.
“I’m obviously disappointed—being at home and being on top of every free practice session was a good sign.
“But I kind of felt it already in FP3, where I knew that I was putting laps very much on the limit.
“And when you look at the onboard, you can see drivers that are taking a bit of a step back.
“So I knew it would be close, but at the end of the day, I didn’t get it this year.”
After both Ferraris were shockingly eliminated in Q2 of the Imola GP, a front-row start for the Monaco GP appears like a satisfactory result for the Scuderia.
Leclerc disappointed after positive result
This is especially true considering that one of the SF-25’s main weaknesses is low-speed corners, which are abundant around the principality’s narrow streets.
Despite not being optimistic about the team’s odds heading into the weekend, Leclerc says he was not satisfied with his result.
Leclerc’s strong performance in practice sessions gave the Ferrari Driver hope for a better result in qualifying for the Monaco GP.
The hometown hero is thus, understandably, disappointed over his P2.
“No. I’m not satisfied, because you forget very quickly with the expectations that you have going into a weekend when free practices are going so well.
“I think we were wrong with the expectations that we had.
“And at the end of the day, it was a lot more positive than what we initially thought.
“We still need to understand why, to be completely honest.
“For me, it’s an unknown.
“I don’t quite know why we are so fast in slow speed suddenly, but we’ll analyse that after the weekend.
“But no, disappointment is big.”
Expectations for the F1 Monaco GP
Leclerc expects ‘chaos’ for the Monaco GP due to the mandatory two pit stops recently introduced to add more excitement.
The Monegasque believes that the new rule will open the race to strategic battles, which could also put the front runners under threat from the pack behind.
“I think it’s going to be a bit of chaos tomorrow, but we’ll see how it plays out.
“I think there’ll be a lot of strategy games, and we’ll see who comes out on top.
“But I think we might be under pressure from cars that we probably don’t expect, from the back, which might make everything interesting.
“We’ll see.”
