MONACO — With two laps to go, as his Ferrari sped out of the tunnel and into the daylight, Charles Leclerc was starting to tear up.
“F— Charles, you cannot do that now. You still have two laps to finish.”
This was the grand prix he’d wanted to win since he was a child. These were the streets where he grew up. It was the race he’d watched from the family apartment, cheering on the red cars, wondering what it might be like to someday be the one out there racing — and winning.
This was the dream, and, after leading more than 70 laps from pole position, he was now within touching distance of realizing it.
Leclerc knew what it felt like to come close to victory in Monaco, only to have it cruelly snatched away. His miserable record at home dated right back to his Formula Two days, when he retired from both races of the 2017 round that marked his home debut. A brake failure in 2018 was followed by a qualifying strategy error by Ferrari the following year, causing him to drop out in Q1.
Then came the two F1 pole positions, in 2021 and 2022, neither of which resulted in victory. The first time it was due to crash damage sustained while pushing at the end of qualifying, which reared its head when trying to start the car ahead of the race and meant he could take zero part. 2022 was another Ferrari strategy fumble that led to Leclerc slipping from pole to P4. Last year, an outright lack of pace was compounded by a grid penalty, leaving him to finish sixth.
So many chances, so many misses.
Leclerc said he thought of his father, who died in 2017, in the final laps. (Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)
It meant the spotlight always shone brightest on Leclerc in Monaco. Each year he’d arrive and face questions about whether this was finally the year where he’d break the ‘curse’ at his home race and become the first homeborn winner since Louis Chiron in 1931. Would it ever come?
“I never believed in the curse,” Leclerc said after the race. “However, it always felt very difficult on the two occasions I had to win here. As a driver, you never really know when will be the next opportunity to win, especially when it’s your home race — and even more so when your home race is Monaco, that is such a special track, such a difficult track and weekend to master and do everything perfectly.
“I knew that today was another opportunity. I knew how it felt the last two times I was in this position.”
He would not let it slip away again.
Leclerc had been taking the inevitable pressure that came with his home race weekend in his stride. Practice and qualifying went to plan, building up the pace well and taking the all-important pole position. But then the race threw a curveball: an early red flag and restart reduced the grand prix to a race of tire management where everyone had to slow their pace at the front and save enough tire life to get to the end.
Leclerc remained cool throughout. He never looked at real risk of losing, despite having Oscar Piastri filling his mirrors for the majority of the race as they lapped some 10 seconds off the optimal qualifying pace of the cars in Monaco at times. It was always under control.
The pace upped a little in the closing stages as the fuel dropped, allowing Leclerc to peel ahead. Piastri knew the race was long lost, his own brief attempt to show his nose for an overtake the early stages being rebuffed. And Leclerc knew what was about to happen. At long last, he was about to win his home race in Monaco. It didn’t really matter how he did it. Everything was in hand.
Then came the emotions.
Leclerc started experiencing something that had never happened before in his racing career. Memories of his journey to this point started flashing through his mind. The career that had started in go-karting, led him onto the single-seater racing ladder and all the way up to F1. Then to race with its most iconic team, Ferrari, driving its famed red cars in those famed red overalls.
He thought of his family and friends, who were dotted all around the track willing him on with every single flash of his red Ferrari that flew past. Their love and support, everything they’d given for him to get to this point.
But at the forefront of Leclerc’s mind was his father, Hervé. The man who brought him up to be who he is today. Who sacrificed so much to make his racing dream a reality.
Hervé never got the chance to see his son race in the Monaco Grand Prix, the race that would always be the highlight of their calendar years. He died in 2017, one year before Leclerc reached F1.
Shortly before his father passed, Leclerc told him a white lie: that he’d signed an F1 contract for the following year. He hadn’t. But he would a few months later, graduating to F1 with Sauber in 2018 before getting the dream move to Ferrari one year later.
Monaco was the race that they watched together and dreamed together of Charles winning someday. It meant as the laps ticked down, and the enormity of the achievement got ever closer with every corner, every steering input and gear change as he threaded his car through the barriers, Leclerc became more emotional.
“In every race I have done, there has not been one single race where I was thinking about this kind of personal stuff inside the car, because you’ve got to stay on it,” Leclerc said. “You’ve got these flashbacks of all these moments that we have spent together, all the sacrifices that he has done for me to get to where I am.”
They were emotions that Leclerc admitted he found difficult to manage. The closest he’d come to a similar feeling was at Baku in 2017, when he raced in F2 just days after his father’s passing, the raw grief so fresh in his mind. He went and won with a dominant display.
But victory in Monaco was always the dream for Charles and Hervé. This was so much more than just another race, another 25 points and another trophy for the cabinet. If he was going to win anywhere, it had to be in Monaco.
Leclerc fulfilled a childhood dream on Sunday – for himself and his father. (Peter Fox – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
As Leclerc crossed the line, he punched the air and let it all out. “Finally!” came the cry of his race engineer, Bryan Bozzi. Leclerc screamed and yelled inside his helmet, cursing as he flipped from Italian to English to French through his celebrations before letting out a quieter, exasperated “finally.”
Finally he’d done it. He’d emulated the heroes he’d watched tapes of growing up, like Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, by winning in Monaco, adding his name to the who’s who of greats that have scored victory around these famed streets.
“Monaco is the grand prix that made me dream of becoming an F1 driver with my father, (who) has done absolutely everything for me to get to where I am today,” Leclerc said.
“I feel like I didn’t only accomplish a dream of mine today, but also one of his.”
Has any other Monaco Grand Prix winner ever had such a charge of emotion when doing so? The jubilation and prestige of the moment, yes. An invite to dinner with the prince at the palace, of course. But to Charles Leclerc, this all meant more. So much more than a normal F1 win.
This was for him and his dad.
(Lead photo of Charles Leclerc: Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
