Ferrari's Charles Leclerc Gets Another Shot At Winning Monaco, Can He Get The Job Done?

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc has another golden opportunity to win the Monaco Grand Prix — his home race — after qualifying on pole for the third time in his career.

Of course, one of the years he qualified on pole he crashed and couldn't start the race… but that's in the past; this is now and he's got a great shot at victory on Sunday.

The Ferrari looked locked in all weekend, and Leclerc locked up P1 with a Q3 lap that was a tenth-and-a-half faster than McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who will start beside him on the front row in P2.

Leclerc qualifies well and it's only a matter of time before he gets the job done. Starting from pole is a great way to win at Monaco given how painfully difficult it can be to overtake on track.

But, like I said, he started the race on pole in 2022 (after that DNS in 2021) and finished and finished P4. That was thanks to a Ferrari goof in which they called Carlos Sainz into the pits for slick tires after a stint on wets, then called Leclerc, then told him to abort the stop, but not before he was already pulling in behind Sainz.

The team wasn't in position to double-stack and that was all she wrote for Leclerc's podium chances, which is a shame because at one point he had built a multi-second gap while leading.

So shooting yourself in the foot is one way to lose at Monaco and it's happened to Leclerc before.

Charles Leclerc qualified on pole for at his home race the Monaco Grand Prix for the third time on Sunday. Is this the year he finally wins? (Photo by Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Ciancaphoto Studio/Getty Images )

If Ferrari gets the strategy right and keeps it clean when they're in the pits they should be fine… as long as Leclerc gets into the first corner — Sainte-Dévote — clean, and comes out of it with the lead.

That's because just two races ago in Miami, Leclerc had a terrible start in which he was slow through the second phase of the start, which is when drivers start pulling up through the gears.

Of course, to crap on my point, that slow start actually allowed him to sneak up the inside of Turn 1 and hang on to second place, and he ultimately finished in third.

But the objective is to win, so a slow jump off the line or a slow second phase could mean giving up track position and that's a big problem at Monaco.

I think this is finally Charles Leclerc's year (it doesn't hurt that Max Verstappen is starting in P6, even if Red Bull has been struggling this weekend) as long as he and the team keep it clean and avoid any funny business.