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Charles Leclerc and Ferrari have been left picking up the pieces of a disappointing weekend after a lacklustre showing in Monaco. Leclerc finished P6 after a tough day at the office for the Scuderia.
Ferrari and Leclerc saw a pace drop off in Monaco on the medium tyres following their pit stop (Image Credit: @ScuderiaFerrari on Twitter)Ferrari and Leclerc knew coming into the weekend that the chances of beating Red Bull at Monte Carlo likely would be beyond reach, but a strong result was achievable. With Sergio Perez crashing out at Sainte Devote in Q1, Leclerc pushed hard to secure P3 on the grid.
His weekend began unravelling immediately after setting his lap. While on his slowdown lap on his way back to the pits, the fast-moving McLaren of Lando Norris met the Ferrari in the tunnel. Unable to move out of the way in time due to Monaco’s unique layout, the stewards awarded Leclerc the inevitable three-place grid penalty for impeding.
Starting the race from P6, Leclerc could do little to challenge the cars ahead. Holding off Lewis Hamilton behind until the seven-time World Champion pitted, Leclerc could do nothing to match the pace of the Mercedes. He would also lose out to George Russell, finishing P6, 5 seconds behind the second Mercedes.
Leclerc disheartened
Speaking to formula1.com after the race, the Monegasque reflected on a tough afternoon. When asked if his post-qualifying grid drop had impacted his race, Leclerc honestly assessed his day: “Yeah, exactly. After [qualifying], the three grid places penalty, starting sixth there wasn’t much more [I could do].
Leclerc admitted Ferrari’s pace proved far from ideal in Monaco. While enjoying consistent pace on hard tyres in his opening stint, his second stint saw a steep drop-off in performance, with the tight nature of Monaco stopping any further progress:
“The pace wasn’t great today. I mean, it was actually quite good on the hard [tyres]. On the slicks it was good, but there is nothing to do here. It was basically a waiting game and then, when we started to push, the tyres had gone away a little bit.”
