Leclerc's Emotional Victory in Monaco Grand Prix
Jun 07, 2024
Charles Leclerc, devoted to his late father, said he was so overcome with emotion during his last circuits in his Ferrari that he found it difficult to look out of it. Leclerc won the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.
After a flawless performance, Leclerc, 26, became the first Monegasque to win a Formula One race on the most renowned streets in the sport in over a century.
In a 2017 homage, Leclerc mentioned his late father Herve, stating, "I was thinking about my dad when I was driving."
Leclerc has already been on the pole twice. However, he crashed into the barriers during the last laps of qualifying in 2021, which prevented him from getting into the race.
The next season, Ferrari mishandled his plan and finished just fourth. Leclerc has never even finished on the podium at his home event prior to Sunday's race.
Leclerc said that he had to keep his emotions in check over the last ten laps of the competition. With two laps left, he said, he discovered his eyes were full of tears and his eyesight was blurry.
There were still two circuits to go before the finish, he recalled, forcing himself not to give in to his feelings at that precise time. Leclerc acknowledged the challenges he had in keeping his feelings in check and giving credit to those who had helped him get to where he was.
With his victory on Sunday, Leclerc—his first since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix—saw his lead over championship leader Max Verstappen drop from 48 to 31 points.
Triple world champion Red Bull downplayed the race on Sunday, calling it "a bit boring" despite starting and placing sixth.
The Monaco GP marked the first time this season that the Dutch driver had not finished on the podium after winning five of the previous seven races, all from pole position. He withdrew from the Australian race after just three circuits because of a braking issue.
Verstappen gave reporters his thoughts, saying that while he thought Sunday was a little boring, he had a great weekend overall. He said that the view was still breathtaking. Furthermore, he indicated that his ideal course of action would be to figure out how to make the racing experience better.
With no overtaking and an instant red light allowing teams to swap tires and avoid further pit stops that may have upset the strategy, the top 10 finishers followed grid positions.
It's not very interesting to drive around here, so nobody really wanted to put too much stress on their tires. It's unfortunate, to be honest." Verstappen added.
Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time world champion for Mercedes, who finished seventh, and Lando Norris, who finished fourth for McLaren, both agreed with the Red Bull driver's remarks.
The race, having been stopped and restarted, according to Norris, had "thrown any fun or any action out of the window.".
The British driver recalled how it felt to be in a place where there were no clear objectives or targets. He mentioned that in that specific place, things had always been that way.
