Leclerc secured his third career pole position in Monaco, narrowly beating McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in the final qualifying session in Monte Carlo. He had shown strong performance in the earlier practice sessions, leading the way in FP2 and FP3 on his home streets.
Although Leclerc finished fifth in FP1, it was Mercedes that dominated that session. They decided to focus their main qualifying simulation efforts in FP1 due to a predicted risk of rain in FP2, which never happened. Mercedes and McLaren drivers only used used soft tires in FP2.
Leclerc’s strong performance throughout the weekend increased the pressure on him to secure pole position. He felt like a pole contender from the first Friday practice laps, and the pressure was on to perform well in qualifying.
He mentioned a last-minute engine change after FP3, which added to the tension going into qualifying. However, this change didn’t affect his performance during the weekend.
During qualifying, Leclerc reported a strange pedal movement in his car, but it didn’t seem to affect his performance. Despite leading in practice, he had to make several adjustments during qualifying to improve his position. He encountered challenges in Q1 and Q2, but managed to make necessary modifications for Q3.
Leclerc explained that in Q1, he had to remove a sponsor’s sticker from the wall at Mirabeau, which slowed him down. However, he made adjustments and improvements throughout the qualifying sessions, ultimately securing pole position for the race.
