Since Louis Chiron in 1931, no Monegasque F1 driver had managed to win the Monaco Grand Prix until Charles Leclerc’s historic victory.
Charles Leclerc said the enormity of his Monaco Grand Prix victory achievement began to hit him with two laps to go in the race.
The Ferrari driver finally put an end to his Monaco Grand Prix ‘curse’ as he dominated the 2024 edition of the race, leading from start to finish in what was a non-stop race due to a first-lap red flag.
Charles Leclerc wins home Monaco Grand Prix
Louis Chiron’s victory at the Monaco Grand Prix in 1931 made him the last driver to win his home race until the recent triumph of the Monegasque driver, who ended the almost century-long drought.
However, after securing a dominant pole position on Saturday, Leclerc flawlessly maneuvered through the uneventful 78-lap race on the streets of Monte Carlo.
With the drivers having changed tyres under the red flag on the first lap, the importance of holding onto track position resulted in none of the leading drivers making a pit stop – Leclerc duly controlling the gap up front to win from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri by over seven seconds.
Leclerc, speaking after the race, disclosed in the cooldown room that he had begun to experience difficulty managing his emotions during the last two laps. It had become challenging for him to stay focused as his misty eyes began to impair his vision, but he had to remind himself not to get distracted.
Leclerc, visibly emotional and struggling to hold back tears during the podium interviews, elaborated on his feelings. He revealed that his late father, Hervé Leclerc, who sadly passed away in 2017 while Charles was still competing in Formula 2 and hadn’t yet reached Formula 1, was on his mind. Hervé was only 54 years old when he died.
Leclerc, who had previously secured pole position for his home race twice, expressed that the unfortunate circumstances that prevented him from winning had contributed to the intense emotions he experienced as he approached the highly sought-after victory.
He described it as a challenging race.
In a way, it enhances the experience that I’ve started on pole position twice before but couldn’t quite achieve victory.
The significance is immense, clearly – this is the race that ignited my aspirations of becoming a Formula 1 driver in the future.
“It was an emotionally challenging race, as with just 15 laps remaining, all you could do was hope that nothing untoward would occur.”
“The emotions were already surfacing, and I must admit that I found myself thinking about my dad much more than I had anticipated while driving.”
“He has sacrificed everything for me to be here. It was our shared dream for me to compete in this race and emerge victorious, so it feels surreal.”
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Arthur Leclerc, who is a racing driver and a member of Ferrari’s driver academy just like his brother Leclerc, expressed his desire for Hervé to witness the fulfillment of the Leclerc family’s dream.
He told Sky F1, “Seeing my brother win made me so happy that I cried for the first time.”
I only wish that my father could be present too, to witness this moment.
“This has been absolutely incredible! The weekend has been flawless right from the first practice session. His performance in Q3 was simply amazing, and in the race, he demonstrated exceptional tire management skills. I believe tonight calls for a celebration!”
Leclerc stated that the red flag during the first lap had minimized the potential for a strategy error, but emphasized that the main challenge during the race was preserving the durability of his hard tires until the race concluded.
He said that initially, he believed they had a significant amount of margin.
However, we were aware that we had to complete 78 laps on the same set of tires, which posed an extremely challenging task.
“We executed excellent tire management throughout the race. We had to closely control the gap with George for a significant portion of the race, but in the final 10 laps, I was able to unleash more power as the car felt incredibly impressive.”
I would like to express my gratitude to the team for their outstanding efforts in the past few months. Their hard work has enabled me to experience the incredibly special feeling of winning this race.
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