Charles Leclerc Feels Ferrari Needs To Brace For Surprises At The F1 Monaco GP 2022!

Charles Leclerc had a great start to the season as he led the drivers\’ championship until the sixth race of the season in Barcelona. Ferrari went strong through the weekend as Leclerc secured the pole position once again. The Monegasque was heading strongly towards his fourth victory in 2022, with a 16-second early lead over Red Bull. However, a power unit failure resulted in Leclerc\’s F1-75 slowing down and ultimately retiring from the lead. The failure in Spain caused Leclerc to bag zero points and lose the top spot on the driver standing. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen went on to win his third consecutive race of the season to get on top of the rankings, leading Leclerc by six points. 

Now, the two frontrunners are expected to tussle once again during the weekend in Monaco. However, Ferrari is considered to be the favorite on the Monacan street circuit as they have a stronger low-speed performance across corners. Moreover, Red Bull has the upper hand in straight-line speeds, which will be unimportant with Monaco\’s constant twists and turns. Talking on Thursday, Charles stated that Ferrari had a strong package everywhere with the F1-75. However, the 24-year-old was uncertain if the Scuderia were the favorites to win in Monaco this year. 

The Ferrari driver thinks that his team could face some surprises during the weekend. Leclerc said that he did not know if Ferrari were the favorite in Monaco. However, he feels that there could be some surprise for his team, like last year when their car was not competitive over the course of the season. However, the Scuderia arrived in Monaco with the strongest package for the track last year. Moreover, Charles feels that some teams might surprise them with unforeseen competitiveness. He added, \”But I am pretty sure that we will be in the fight to win.\”

Will Leclerc\’s Bad Luck At Monaco Continue In 2022?

Last year, Charles Leclerc shocked everyone by securing the pole position for Ferrari in Monaco. However, the Monegasque was forced to retire even before the race. He sustained damage to his car during a qualifying crash towards the ending stages on Saturday. However, it was not the only unlucky moment Leclerc had in Monaco. Charles has never finished a race at his home circuit. 

Back when he was an F2 driver in 2017, a loose tyre forced Leclerc to retire. A year later, he crashed with Brendon Hartley to end his first F1 stint at the principality when he was with Alfa Romeo. Further, Leclerc failed to finish again in 2019 after hitting the wall in an effort to get ahead in the field. The 24-year-old also crashed Niki Lauda\’s Ferrari 312B3 earlier this month after a disc brake failure at La Rascasse.

Thus, Charles was asked if his previous experiences in Monaco were something that would be in his mind over the weekend. The Ferrari driver replied that it would not as he does not think about it. He admitted that it had not been the luckiest track for him overall. But, Leclerc thinks it is a part of motorsport and life. He added, \”Sometimes things do not go your way, and hopefully this year will.\”

Charles mentioned that he would take the same approach as he had done in the first few races of the season. It has been successful for him so far, and Leclerc hoped that it would work for him at home. Ferrari needs to stop Verstappen from winning his fourth race of the season to stay neck-to-neck with Red Bull in contention for this year\’s championship