Leclerc reflects on his maiden Monaco win: ‘No words can explain that’

Charles Leclerc is finally a Monaco Grand Prix winner and he admits he has “no words” to describe “such a difficult race”.

The 2024 Monaco Grand Prix saw a Red Flag on the opening lap after Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg were all involved in a crash that took all three out of the race. However, for the home crowd, it was a good day.

Charles Leclerc of Ferrari drove a lights-to-flag victory.

The Monegasque achieved pole position yesterday in Qualifying – taking Ferrari’s 250th pole position – but the supposed curse threatened to continue his winless streak of 39 races. However, the curse is no more as Leclerc’s dreams of winning the Monaco Grand Prix have come true.

Leclerc survived the opening lap crash and was able to keep hold of P1 throughout the remaining laps on the same set of hard tyres he put on under the Red Flag. His teammate, Carlos Sainz, was given a second chance at the restart and he joined Leclerc on the podium, but the attention was very much on the Monegasque driver.

Ferrari’s double podium means that they have closed the gap to Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship. There is only 24 points between them now and only 31 points between Max Verstappen and Leclerc in the Drivers’ Standings.

But for Leclerc, the win meant more than simply standing on the top step of the podium.

An emotional and difficult victory

In the post-race interview, Leclerc spoke to Sky Sports about his victory. He admitted that it was a difficult race and that being able to finally take the win is a dream come true. Leclerc said:

“No words can explain that. It’s such a difficult race. I think the fact that twice I’ve been starting from pole position and we couldn’t quite make it makes it even better in a way.

“It means a lot obviously. It’s the race that made me dream of becoming a Formula 1 driver one day. It was a difficult race emotionally because 15 to the end you’re just hoping that nothing happens. Already the emotions were coming.

“I have to say I was thinking of my dad a lot more than I expected while driving. Obviously, he’s given everything for me to be here and it was a dream of ours for me to race here and to win, so it’s unbelievable.”

In another interview, Leclerc continued reflecting on his win in Monaco. Speaking to Natalie Pinkham, whilst being congratulated by the other drivers, he said:

“It’s an amazing feeling. Until now, I’ve never said it’ll be a victory like others and I’ve always said emotionally it will have an added value. However, I did not expect it to be that much.

“Two or three laps to the end, I got out of the tunnel and I realised I was actually struggling to see because my eyes were starting to cry a bit. I was like, Charles you cannot afford to do that now, you still have two or three laps to finish in order to get the win. Then I was fine again, but then obviously crossing the finish line, there was so much joy.

“I’m so incredibly happy. It means a lot for me. It’s the race I dreamed of winning since being a child. I got the passion for racing from this race, together with my father who did everything for me to get there.

“Obviously, my mum was there under the podium as well, which adds emotions together with my brothers, my girlfriends, all my friends. Everybody is here, so it makes it so special.

“Yes, I think it’s coming together. I thought about a lot of people today on track, Jules, my father… That doesn’t normally in other races. In other races, I manage to extract, my mental is fully focused on the driving, but today I really struggled to extract that.

“In the last 15 laps, it was just all of them in my head. I think crossing the line, there was a lot of emotions because of that because of twice starting on pole and not managing to finish it and everything that happened personally. So I’m overall so incredibly happy.”

The perfect time to bring this artwork back ?

(via @charles_leclerc) pic.twitter.com/gg3WIkKucE

— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) May 26, 2024

His family’s praise

Leclerc’s brother, Arthur, was also a racing driver and is currently Ferrari’s Development Driver. He also spoke after the race to Ted Kravitz and praised his brother’s performance all weekend, but also reiterated how much the Leclerc brothers would have loved for their father to be able to have been present. The younger Leclerc brother said:

“I’m so happy. The first time I cry seeing my brother win. It’s just an incredible feeling.

“I just wish that my father was here as well to see this moment. I think just incredible.

“The weekend has been perfect from the beginning. In practice and then in qualifying, an amazing lap in Q3 putting everything together, and then in the race, he just managed the tyres really really well and we were able to bring home the win. It’s just incredible and I think we’ll have a lot of party tonight.”

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal of Ferrari, also expressed his jubilation with Leclerc’s performance. He said he was “more than happy for Charles” and today’s race was “perfect”, following a “fantastic pole yesterday”.

The next round of the 2024 season is Round 9 at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada. With four different race winners so far already this year, the championship could heat up and become rather exciting, but for now, the focus is on Leclerc’s maiden Monaco victory.

Headline image: X @F1