Leclerc looking for Monaco redemption after Canadian GP 'nightmare'
Photo: Race Pictures
21:01, 29 May
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Henry Eccles is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs, and features across the F1 calendar. Since joining in 2026, he has produced high-volume reporting on the sport’s biggest stories, alongside feature pieces including analysis and historical content.
Charles Leclerc is hoping his home race at the next round of F1 action at Monaco will see him bounce back from a "nightmare" Canadian GP weekend, one that he had labelled the "most difficult weekend out of my Formula One career."
While Leclerc's Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton scored his best-ever result in Montreal, just over 10 seconds behind race winner Kimi Antonelli in P2, Leclerc was 34 seconds further back, just outside the podium places - albeit a good recovery from his lowly P8 Qualifying position.
The Monegasque driver looked like he was struggling to control his SF-26 from the very start of proceedings at the sole Free Practice session on Friday, and upon hearing he was in P8 during Qualifying's Q2, he said over the radio: "I'm completely off the pace, completely out of it. Q3 is either in the wall or P8."
Leclerc battled to recover P4 during Sunday's race, but was still less than satisfied with his weekend overall. He spoke to GPblog and others about his issues: "It's been a nightmare of a weekend. Probably the most difficult weekend out of my Formula One career. I've had zero feelings with the tyres since FP1 first lap until the very last lap of the race.
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"And even in the last 15 laps, I was driving a second, second and a half off the pace just to not take risks. And even in these kind of laps, I still had moments where I was like, that's too close."
Rather than get too bogged down by his gap to Hamilton during the race, Leclerc sees it as an opportunity to learn from the seven-time world champion. He said: "The good thing is that I've got a great benchmark on a weekend like this, with Lewis being absolutely incredible this weekend and having an amazing feeling with the car. So I can obviously analyse and understand why there was that much difference. But yeah, it's been a very tricky weekend."
Leclerc hopeful of Ferrari Pole at Monaco
Photo: Race Pictures
Next up for Ferrari is Leclerc's home race, the Monaco GP. While luck has not always been on his side around F1's 'Jewel in the Crown', the 28-year-old is almost always a strong performer around the streets he grew up on, lifting his 'Monaco Curse' with an emotional maiden win in 2024.
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Speaking after Montreal, Hamilton expressed confidence that he could achieve his first-ever Ferrari win at the iconic street circuit, and while Leclerc was keen to temper expectations surrounding Ferrari, he believes if there is one race where the Scuderia could snatch Pole Position, it would be at Monaco.
So far this season, Ferrari have impressed at low-speed corners, of which there are many in Monaco, but they have suffered a clear straight-line deficit to championship leaders Mercedes. The circuit will also be the first to have no Straight Mode zones this season.
"We need to be careful, Leclerc said. "I think Mercedes-Benz is a very, very, very strong team and a very all-rounded team, whether it's in corners or in the straights. If there's one race this year where I feel we could have more of a shot at pole, it would be Monaco. And I hope it will be the case."
Leclerc, for all of his moans and groans during the weekend, was willing to admit that Montreal represented a step forward for Ferrari overall, with the Italian team still not a million miles away from Mercedes after the Silver Arrows brought major upgrades.
"Yeah, it's a step forward. I think Lewis has done an exceptional job this weekend as well. But yeah, it's a good thing that at least we, Mercedes, didn't pull away too much. I don't know though how much Kimi [Antonelli] was pushing... but we weren't too far considering all the upgrades they brought."
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Monaco Grand Prix
Overview
Friday 05.06.26
Practice 1
11:30 AM
Practice 2
03:00 PM
Saturday 06.06.26
Practice 3
10:30 AM
Qualification
02:00 PM
Sunday 07.06.26
Race
01:00 PM
Friday 05.06.26
Practice 1
Fri 11:30 AM
Practice 2
Fri 03:00 PM
Saturday 06.06.26
Practice 3
Sat 10:30 AM
Qualification
Sat 02:00 PM
Sunday 07.06.26
Race
Sun 01:00 PM
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