Leclerc optimistic despite bad weekend in Monaco: 'Lots of positive signs'

With the fastest time recorded during qualifying, disaster struck in the final seconds of Q3. Leclerc hit the crash barrier and lost control of the car which was carted off with damage. His time remained and put him on pole position in his home race, although Verstappen was convinced his lap would be the fastest at the time. We'll never know, as the session was halted. In the end, Leclerc proved unable to start, making it a relatively easy win for Verstappen.

Positive signs

For Charles Leclerc, the situation was a bitter pill to swallow. He hurt himself even more by going to the podium ceremony and clapping for teammate Carlos Sainz, who finished second. This also with the goal to remind himself never to make the mistakes he made again. Leclerc is obviously fed up, but in general he sees a positive result in it. Especially when it comes to the Ferrari itself.

Speaking to Motorsportweek.com the Monegasque says: "Of course it is difficult [to accept] because it is at home, it is not every day we have the chance to be in such a good place but at the end it is like this, it is part of motorsport, these things can happen. What I will try and remember from this weekend is all the positive signs we’ve had.

"We are coming back from quite far, if we see [the performance] last year, so we have done a good job by improving race after race. Here, it might be a one-off to be fighting for the win, but that doesn’t mean that there has been no progress, so we are on the good road, working well. The luck was not on my side this weekend but it is life."

Eyes on Baku

The next Grand Prix is that of Azerbaijan and that too is a street circuit. New lap, new chances, because maybe the Ferrari is good at that circuit too. The only disadvantage is the long straights on the streets of Baku which could be a problem for the Ferrari. Nevertheless Leclerc is positive. He concludes: "I will get over it, think about Baku, I’m very motivated to be back in the car and hopefully have a very good result soon."