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Laurence Edmondson, F1 Editor
MONACO — Charles Leclerc is targeting a win at the Monaco Grand Prix in the hope he can finally lift the ‘curse’ that has hung over his results at his home race.
Leclerc has twice secured pole position at Monaco but not yet finished on the podium in his six Formula One appearances at the street circuit.
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In 2021, Leclerc secured pole but a crash in qualifying damaged his car’s driveshaft and meant he was unable to line up on the grid, while in 2022 Ferrari squandered his pole advantage with a strategy error.
Asked what a top three finish would mean to him this weekend, he said: “I mean, second or third is not really something that excites me. So the win is what we need to target.
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“We’ve seen in the last few races that Red Bull, McLaren and ourselves are pretty close in qualifying. And we know how important qualifying is here.
“So we’ll have to put everything together. And if we’re on pole, then that will give us good chances to get what we want, which is the win.”
Championship leader Max Verstappen has started all seven of this year’s grands prix from pole position, but Leclerc believes he has a chance of breaking that streak this weekend and securing the fastest time in qualifying.
“I feel like in Monaco, you always start a little bit from scratch. As much as what we’ve seen in the last few races, I think it won’t be too different. There still can be some surprises.
“We’ve seen it in 2021 [when Leclerc was on pole], I think, with us, where we were nowhere but then we got to Monaco and our car was working very well.
“So we’ll have to see after Friday where we are compared to the others. But I will be surprised if we are not in the mix for pole, at least.”