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 present 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 Essential Occasion, and might be hoping his luck turns round after earlier Monaco heartbreak.

The Monegasque driver has by no means completed on the rostrum, with a greatest end of fourth, however has an enormous 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 advised 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 firstly?

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.

Probably the most fascinating facet might be whether or not Carlos Sainz in third or Lando Norris in fourth can achieve a spot, so the 2 Ferraris or two McLarens might be collectively after the primary nook, relatively than cut up.

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

Current races have seen the front-running groups begin on the medium tyre and Sky Sports activities F1 technique professional 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 might be considering if it is price having a comfortable tyre at that begin simply to attempt 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 offers you a really versatile first stint, so lets you cease very early or go lengthy into the race. A few years you have seen that the leaders attempt to go as lengthy into the race as they’ll to attempt to keep away from having to cease in any kind of visitors.”

Tempo administration anticipated earlier than pit cease crescendo

It is extensively identified that overtaking in Monaco is extraordinarily troublesome as a result of narrowness of the monitor and the tight turns.

Leclerc will nearly definitely management the tempo on the entrance to handle his tyres, a tactic now we have 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,” stated Bernie.

“There’s typically quite a lot of tempo administration within the first 10 or 15 laps. Whoever’s on the entrance is driving very slowly to manage their tyres and hold 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 best name or the best cease lap that you simply 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.”

Anticipate Piastri to do reverse of Leclerc

If Piastri is in second place, he’ll attempt to keep inside just a few seconds of Leclerc to aim an undercut. Nonetheless, the important thing might be pitting and popping out in clear air to benefit from contemporary tyres.

Ought to Ferrari determine to pit Leclerc first, McLaren will doubtless 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 underneath inexperienced flag situations. 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,” stated Piastri, who has by no means gained 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 believe we are able to win, it is going to require quite a lot of workforce 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 situations, which noticed their driver drop to fourth.

No rain is anticipated this Sunday however that race confirmed it is not fully simple to transform pole right into a win.

Leclerc might need assistance from Ferrari team-mate Sainz, who could possibly be requested to carry vehicles up or take a sure technique to safe the workforce’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,” stated 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 form 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

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