Charles Leclerc is keen to capitalise on any opportunity he gets at his first Monaco Grand Prix with Ferrari.
Last year, the man from Monte Carlo became the first local driver since Olivier Beretta in 1994 to compete in Formula 1’s most famous race. But it would end by crashing into Brendon Hartley exiting the tunnel due to brake failure.
Hopes for this weekend are also reduced at the Scuderia, with the street circuit not well-suited to their strengths, but that isn’t stopping Leclerc from dreaming big.
“My home Grand Prix is always a very special weekend, even more so obviously coming here in full red with Ferrari with a chance to have a very good result, so we’ll push,” he said in Wednesday’s press conference.
While acknowledging Ferrari’s expected weakness, the 21-year-old does expect some progress to have been made since the last race in Spain.
“Obviously we had a difficult start of the season,” Leclerc accepts.
“Low-speed corners weren’t great in Barcelona but normally Monaco is pretty different so we’ll try to turn things around, it’s not going to be easy but we’ll give it everything.
“During testing, we understood a few things. Not enough obviously to be at the level of Mercedes but we understand a few things,” he added.
“I think we gained a little bit of time, not enough, we need to keep working and try and understand what’s the main issue but the engineers are working on that.”
Also Read:
- Vettel doubts Ferrari potential in Monaco but Binotto offers hope
- Leclerc reflects on the deaths of his father & Jules Bianchi: ‘It changes you’
- Albon: No teammate will beat Leclerc by a big margin
Leclerc also claims the atmosphere remains “calm” within Ferrari, despite the gap they face to Mercedes.
“We obviously want to improve so everyone is pushing very hard as I said but I think the most important is that the serenity in the team doesn’t change, which it doesn’t for now,” he concluded.
