Why Charles Leclerc’s victory in Monaco is historic
By winning the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time in his Formula 1 career, the Ferrari driver has entered even more into the sports history of his country.
Charles Leclerc has achieved a new dream in Formula 1. Five years after becoming a full-time driver at Ferrari, the 26-year-old driver won his home Grand Prix for the first time in the streets of the Principality, thus becoming the 37th driver to win in Monaco as part of the Formula 1 World Championship.
Leclerc has become primarily the first Monegasque driver to win the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix. His compatriot Louis Chiron had indeed finished on the highest step of the podium in 1931, but that was 19 years before the creation of the world championship. The same Chiron was also the only Monegasque driver to have stepped onto a podium in Monaco. This was during the second race of the first Formula 1 world championship in history in 1950. At the wheel of his Maserati, he finished third behind two future legends of the sport, Juan Manuel Fangio and Alberto Ascari.
Seventy-four years later, Leclerc finally stepped onto the podium at home. Whether in F2 or in five F1 Grand Prix, he had never done better than 4th under the checkered flag. Despite two pole positions in 2021 and 2022, Leclerc had experienced bad luck or had fallen victim to his team’s poor strategy.
In 2024, besides setting the fastest time in the Friday and Saturday morning trials and securing pole position on Saturday afternoon, he drove a controlled race on Sunday to claim the 6th victory of his Formula 1 career, 41 Grand Prix after the fifth, in Austria in 2022.
The Ferrari driver is part of the very exclusive circle of Monegasque drivers to have taken part in a Formula 1 Grand Prix. Before him and after Louis Chiron, Oliver Beretta became the second member during the 1994 season after having participated in nine races at the wheel of a Larrousse powered by Ford-Cosworth.
On Sunday, May 26, 2024 will therefore remain a historic date for the history of Monegasque sports and for Formula 1. A driver who wins at home is always an event for him and his country, as evidenced by the emotion that swept through the paddock after the race or the tears of Prince Albert II on the podium.
Leclerc still has room to reach the kings of home races like Lewis Hamilton (8 wins at Silverstone) or Alain Prost (6 wins in France). In any case, he has already become the equal of another young prince of Ferrari since Gilles Villeneuve also won in Monaco with a Maranello car in 1981. With both having 6 wins, Leclerc will have the opportunity to surpass his illustrious predecessor in the next Grand Prix in Canada on the Gilles Villeneuve circuit.
