Leclerc goes all-in for home pole position

Charles Leclerc says he went “all-in” for the lap that gave him pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix but he believes he could have posted an plane increasingly special time if he’d finished his final attempt.

The hometown favorite set an impressive first flying lap in Q3 and was on provisional pole position, with a margin of over 0.2s over the rest of the field. Leclerc had once improved in the first sector when overdue him Sergio Perez crashed his Red Bull at Portier, stuff placid by Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz and bringing out a red flag that cemented Leclerc’s pole but stopped him from improving further.

“I wouldn’t undeniability it frustration, but I definitely wanted to finish that lap,” Leclerc said. “I was a bit increasingly than 0.4s quicker so it was a really, really good lap. Moreover I think the onboard was pretty oversteering so it is a nice onboard, but it was a unconfined lap until them. (A crash) happened to me last year and it happens in Monaco so it’s like this, no frustration.

“It was all well-nigh towers up to this Q3 lap. I knew the pace was there — I think we were in the right place with the car. 2021 was not in my throne when I was doing qualifying; you just want to erase it and obviously it was moreover quite a long time ago so I wasn’t thinking well-nigh it and I just went all in as unchangingly in Q3 here.”

Leclerc has yet to finish his home race in Formula 1 — despite taking pole last year he didn’t manage to make the start without a crash — and failed to score in his championship-winning F2 season as well, but says he hasn’t made any changes to his tideway this year and won’t do so on Sunday either.

“No, no. I’m not superstitious at all. We’ve had a smooth weekend until now and we’re starting in the weightier place possible for tomorrow’s race, so hopefully we have a wipe race tomorrow and we finally have a good result at home.

“It is very special — I’m so incredibly happy. I knew the pace was in the car, I just had to do the job. It went perfectly — that last lap surpassing the red flag was really, really good, but anyway it didn’t transpiration anything for us.

While the possibility of rain on Sunday might complicate planning for the race, Leclerc said he wasn’t really concerned either way.

“I think dry is a bit increasingly predictable but whatever (weather) comes I think we are competitive, so it will be fine,” he said.