Monaco GP: Charles Leclerc aiming to finish curse at dwelling F1 occasion as Oscar Piastri targets first win | F1 Information

Charles Leclerc claimed pole place for a 3rd time on the Monaco Grand Prix to offer himself one other alternative to win his dwelling occasion.

Leclerc will begin alongside McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on the entrance row when the lights exit at 2pm on Sunday, stay on Sky Sports activities F1 and Foremost Occasion, and will probably be hoping his luck turns round after earlier Monaco heartbreak.

The Monegasque driver has by no means completed on the rostrum, with a finest end of fourth, however has a giant alternative to alter that.

“We just have to focus on ourselves. We are in the best possible position to win the race. It’s in our hands. We are a much stronger team than we were in the past. We have to maximise this opportunity,” Leclerc informed Sky Sports activities F1.

“In the last three years, there have been lots of things changing. The team taking experience and doing steps in the right direction. Since the arrival of Fred [Vasseur], he has very clear ideas and vision of what he wants to achieve.”

Can Leclerc maintain place at first?

Fortunately for Leclerc, it is a very quick run all the way down to Flip One and the pole-sitter begins on the within, so so long as he does not have a drastically worse begin than Piastri, he ought to maintain the lead.

Essentially the most attention-grabbing facet will probably be whether or not Carlos Sainz in third or Lando Norris in fourth can achieve a spot, so the 2 Ferraris or two McLarens will probably be collectively after the primary nook, somewhat than break up.

“I’m one place off the podium and that’s our goal. It’s all about the start, strategy and pit stops,” mentioned Norris.

“There are a lot of quick cars behind and we have to watch out for them. It’s going to be exciting and hopefully we can push Ferrari. The people who make the least mistakes, will be the ones who win tomorrow.”

Latest races have seen the front-running groups begin on the medium tyre and Sky Sports activities F1 technique skilled Bernie Collins doesn’t count on Sunday’s race to be any completely different.

“When you’re looking at launch, you will be looking at the difference between the soft and the medium,” she defined.

“Each groups will probably be pondering if it is value having a gentle tyre at that begin simply to try to achieve or retain monitor place.

“Most likely I would imagine both go from medium, which allows you the chance to hopefully hold position of the line because obviously it’s a very short run to Turn One.

“However, it provides you a really versatile first stint, so means that you can cease very early or go lengthy into the race. A few years you’ve got seen that the leaders try to go as lengthy into the race as they will to try to keep away from having to cease in any form of site visitors.”

Tempo administration anticipated earlier than pit cease crescendo

It is extensively recognized that overtaking in Monaco is extraordinarily troublesome because of the narrowness of the monitor and the tight turns.

Leclerc will virtually definitely management the tempo on the entrance to handle his tyres, a tactic we’ve seen earlier than in Monaco and Singapore.

“Whoever’s in the lead, the difficulty from a strategy point of view is deciding how much you push and when,” mentioned Bernie.

“There’s usually a variety of tempo administration within the first 10 or 15 laps. Whoever’s on the entrance is driving very slowly to manage their tyres and maintain the group fairly bunched behind.

“Then whoever is behind is struggling with graining on their tyres because they are in dirty air. The advantage of driving slowly is you keep the group packed up, so it means that whoever is directly behind you doesn’t have free pit window to stop into.

“It is a massive query mark of how slowly you drive. Then you definately begin to progressively push on these tyres, it is about making the correct name or the correct cease lap that you just push early sufficient to have margin to cease folks behind undercutting.

“I think we’ve seen last weekend in Imola that McLaren were very aggressive in order to get Piastri the position over Carlos. But in races before that, Ferrari were a bit more aggressive, so this race is potentially going to reward a little bit of each of that.”

Count on Piastri to do reverse of Leclerc

If Piastri is in second place, he’ll attempt to keep inside a number of seconds of Leclerc to try an undercut. Nevertheless, the important thing will probably be pitting and popping out in clear air to benefit from contemporary tyres.

Ought to Ferrari determine to pit Leclerc first, McLaren will seemingly go lengthy with Piastri and hope for a Security Automotive or Digital Security Automotive to make a less expensive pit cease.

You lose round 20 seconds when making a pit cease below inexperienced flag circumstances. Throughout a SC or VSC, this turns into roughly 12 seconds.

“I think we can win it. When you’re starting from second, there are always opportunities,” mentioned Piastri, who has by no means received a Grand Prix earlier than.

“You just have to be executing extremely well around here. You might have one opportunity, and you’ve got to be able to take it and do everything right.

“I feel we are able to win, it would require a variety of group work and energy and luck, however I undoubtedly assume we are able to win.”

Sainz to assist Leclerc

The final time Leclerc began on pole in Monaco, in 2022, Ferrari tousled their technique in combined circumstances, which noticed their driver drop to fourth.

No rain is predicted this Sunday however that race confirmed it isn’t utterly simple to transform pole right into a win.

Leclerc might need assistance from Ferrari team-mate Sainz, who might be requested to carry automobiles up or take a sure technique to safe the group’s first Monaco win since 2017.

“The focus will be to see what we can do with the two cars to win the race with Charles, that he’s in the best possible position to do so,” mentioned Sainz.

“Then obviously Monaco, you never know, all sorts of things can happen, but if I win it’s probably because something weird has happened with Charles with strategy or with Safety Cars – I hope they don’t [happen] in a way.

“Clearly, all of us need to win, however on the similar time, I really feel like Charles deserves to win in Monaco after his unfortunate run. He is been extraordinarily robust all week, all weekend, and right here prior to now, so, yeah, tomorrow is a day to sort of want that nothing occurs and see if we are able to win with Charles.”

Sky Sports F1’s live Monaco GP and Indy 500 schedule

Sunday May 26
6.55am: F3 Feature Race
8.35am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Monaco GP build-up*
2pm: The MONACO GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Chequered Flag: Monaco GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
5.30pm: The Indy 500

*also live on Sky Sports Main Event

It’s time for the most-famous F1 race of them all – the Monaco Grand Prix. Watch every session from the famous street circuit live on Sky Sports F1, with Sunday’s race at 2pm. Stream each F1 race and extra with a NOW Sports activities Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime