Charles Leclerc won at his home circuit at the Monaco Grand Prix 2024 to complete a near-perfect weekend for the Ferrari driver in his pursuit of Max Verstappen at the top of the standings.
In a race featuring a huge first-lap crash, Leclerc started on pole and achieved his first podium finish in style, beating McLaren’s Oscar Piastri by more than seven seconds.
McLaren’s Lando Norris finished third, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz fourth after none of the leading quartet pitted throughout.
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“It is a race that made me dream of becoming a Formula One driver one day,” Leclerc said. “It was a difficult race… 15 laps from the end, you are just hoping nothing happens. The emotions were coming.
“I was thinking of my dad a lot more than I thought while driving. He’s given everything for me to be here. It was a dream of ours and for me to race here and to win and so it’s unbelievable.”
The win he always wanted ❤️#F1 #MonacoGP @Charles_Leclerc pic.twitter.com/GFKqxKnhKC
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 26, 2024
Monaco Grand Prix: Leclerc wins
The two Haas cars and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez collided in a worrying start to the race which caused a red flag and a contest which took place in unusual conditions.
“No words can explain it,” said Leclerc of the circuit, which is notoriously difficult for passing.
“It’s such a difficult race. The fact that twice [previously] I’ve started on pole position and we couldn’t quite make it makes it even better, in a way. It means a lot.”
RACE CLASSIFICATION
Confirmation of Charles Leclerc’s win 🏆
Oscar Piastri finishes a superb P2 while Carlos Sainz takes the final podium place 👏#F1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/3DCbNe6tk4
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 26, 2024
Reigning champion Max Verstappen, of Red Bull, finished almost 14 seconds behind Leclerc in sixth.
The result means Leclerc has narrowed the gap on Verstappen at the top of the standings to 31 points.
“At first, I thought we had quite a lot of margin – but we knew there were 78 laps to do on the same tyre, which was very difficult,” said Leclerc.
“We did great management of the tyres… in the last ten laps I called to push a bit more and the car felt amazing.”
