Charles Leclerc knows the tragedy of making blunders on home soil like no other F1 racer. The Monegasque has participated in the Monaco GP in Monte Carlo 5 times between 2018 and 2023. However, every single time, he failed to score a victory in front of his countrymen due to some fault of his own or Ferrari’s. But in 2024, the 26-year-old turned his luck around and thundered to the top spot on the grid in Monaco. His reversal of the ‘Monaco curse’ assured all fans that the golden boy of the Maranello outfit is finally in a position to fight for the Championship. However, Leclerc’s latest admission about his run at the British GP sounded quite disappointing.

Silverstone happened to be a shock for all Leclerc followers who wanted him to get another win. The historic circuit is a favorite amongst the F1 crowd, but Charles Leclerc failed to get into Q3 during the Qualis there. Starting from 11th on the grid, the Scuderia racer did improve his position during the start of the British GP as he climbed to P8. However, the weather conditions jumbled Ferrari’s tactical calls, leaving Leclerc vulnerable to his opponents, who quickly surpassed him. In the end, he could not even take a single point home, finishing in the 14th spot.

Furthermore, Leclerc’s Silverstone performance upset the onlookers because his teammate Carlos Sainz scored way better under the same conditions. The Spaniard, whose Ferrari contract will run out at the end of this year, came fifth overall. But Charles fell prey to the changing weather in Britain with his team making him change the tires on his SF-24 too early. Elaborating on what went wrong with his race, Charles Leclerc said to Sport1, “It rained heavily at turn 15. I was told it was going to rain very heavily on that lap, so I stopped to try to anticipate it. The rain came eight or nine laps later. That was obviously the end of our race.”

When Charles Leclerc was called into the pits by his new race engineer Bryan Bozz, the Ferrari mechanics fitted some intermediates to his car. But the race track was still too dry for the tire type as the rain came sometime later. However, when the shower actually began, Leclerc’s tires were already worn out. Thus, he could not utilize his full speed, and he fell out of the points. Perhaps disappointed with how his team took the wrong call which eventually affected his race, Leclerc also added, “I don’t feel good. It’s too much, there are too many races.”

While Charles Leclerc is going through the lows after missing the Championship points that he should have taken in British GP, the Monegasque has also tasted a few highs this season. He broke the ‘Monaco curse’ to win his first-ever home race as an F1 racer. Wonder why the legend of the ‘Monaco curse’ even started in the first place?

Charles Leclerc suffered the ‘Monaco curse’

At the age of 19, Charles Leclerc stood the chance of bringing glory to the Monegasque by winning an F2 race in Monaco. But he failed his task, and a year later, when Leclerc returned to the Circuit de Monaco in the legendary Ferrari suit, his second chance to clinch victory on home soil arrived. Unfortunately, his SF71H had a front-left brake failure, marking a failure once again. Fast forward to 2019, Leclerc could not even go into Q3 due to a qualifying blunder that left him out of the equation for a win in Monaco.

While the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the 2020 Monaco GP being called off, in the following year, Charles Leclerc returned to race in Monte Carlo. This time, he grabbed the pole position and looked well on his way to win the race. However, he succumbed to a driveshaft failure on his way to the starting grid on Sunday and had to pull out immediately. In the next two years, something or the other kept Leclerc back from winning the Monaco GP, which started the legend of the ‘Monaco curse’ as fans came to believe that Leclerc could never win on his home soil because of it.

However, proving all the hearsay facts about the ‘Monaco curse’ wrong, Charles Leclerc soared to victory at the 2024 Grand Prix in Monte Carlo. But this does not mean he is currently in a great position to get several wins this season. The Monegasque admitted there is a long way to go, and his British GP woes also showcased a need for improvement. Will the Ferrari racer correct his mistakes and give a good fight to his heavyweight rivals like Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at the upcoming Grands Prix? What do you think? Share in the comments below.