Everyone has their eyes on Charles Leclerc as the only Monegasque driver on the grid has attained pole position for the race. Knowing his bad luck around his home circuit everyone is hoping that he has a smooth race and manages to win his first Grand Prix of the season. On the other hand, Carlos Sainz is going to be in the second row at P3 which is a favorable start for the Grand Prix.

Although Carlos Sainz has won a race this season, Leclerc is yet to do the same. Sadly, one harsh truth of Formula 1 is that there is no bigger rival for a driver than his teammate. However, Carlos Sainz is just not that type of a driver, as his relationship with the Leclerc has always been quite strong. As Sainz will be replaced by Hamilton next season, he has decided to do something for his parting teammate that will shock the world.

Carlos Sainz’s parting gift for his teammate

Carlos Sainz spoke about his experience after the Monaco qualifiers and during it, he explained what he thinks of the main race. Sainz stated, “Anything can happen like always, we will give it our best shot.” Ferrari is in a good position for the Monaco Grand Prix, as the circuit is difficult to overtake on.

The narrow roads have posed a challenge for everyone during free practice and qualifiers and the race will be no different. Ferrari has a good pace around the slow turns that Monaco has to offer and the drivers are confident with their cars. Winning from P3 for Carlos Sainz is a possibility, “But the priority will be to win with Charles tomorrow,” explained the Spaniard.

Sainz knows how much this race means to his teammate and not winning a home race is always painful. This year is the third time that Leclerc has scored pole position at Monaco and Sainz will help him secure his first victory from the front row. This just shows how amazing of a teammate Sainz is despite being replaced in the team. It is said that Leclerc gets cursed during the race day at Monaco, so what exactly are they talking about?

The Charles Leclerc-Monaco curse

For some reason, Charles Leclerc has never had a satisfactory race at Monaco. Back in 2018, he debuted with Sauber, and that went south when his brake failed on him, leading to a crash with Brendon Hartley on lap 72, ending his race early.

Next year was no better for him as he was eliminated in Q1, which gave him P15 on the starting grid, a position very hard to gain points from. But that was not all that happened that weekend. A collision with Nico Hulkenberg led to a puncture and eventual retirement due to floor damage.

While there was no Monaco GP in 2020, the next was no better for the Monegasque driver. Leclerc set a provisional pole, but things took a U-turn when he crashed into the barriers at turn 16. Coming to 2022, things got out of hand as Leclerc ended up crashing Niki Lauda’s 1974 Ferrari 312 B3 during a demo run. He also faced pit-stop problems, that led him to finish P4 from Pole.

2023 was a little better for him as he qualified third, but got a penalty for impeding Lando Norris, giving him a 3-place grid penalty. In the end, he finished P6, which was a decent finish for the driver, but still not the kind of performance you’d expect in the Ferrari driver’s home race.

Charles Leclerc has consistently faced issues at his home race in Monaco, ranging from technical failures and crashes to strategic blunders and penalties. Hopefully, Oscar Piastri does not get hindered by the ‘curse’ and manages to help his teammate walk home with the win this time.