Monaco Looks Tight But Leclerc Plays Down Chances Of Win

With all eyes right now on the Monaco Grand Prix, given the Formula 1 results so far, McLaren's Oscar Piastri tops the charts with 146 points from his six podiums and four wins, and he is closely followed by race colleague Lando Norris, with 27 year old Verstappen down in third place right now.

Having headed the early practice sessions, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc is looking promising and build up continues but the 27 year old Monte Carlo native remains unconvinced that his race team will be competitive on the track. For those who juggle their racing with football livescore for the final Premier League action of the year, Sunday could be a busy day indeed.

Speaking ahead of the practice sessions which begun on Friday, he told the assembled Formula 1 news media that the chances of him repeating his 2024 home race victory were 'low' and even after enjoying a strong showing on the track that saw him end Friday just 0.038 seconds quicker than leader Piastri (Lewis Hamilton was third fastest in the second Ferrari), he admitted that although his confidence had grown, and that he was now more positive, he remained unconvinced that he could triumph.

It was a typical hectic start to the race weekend as 20-year-old British driver Oliver Bearman was given a ten-place grid penalty for Sunday's action for overtaking Carlos Sainz's Williams whilst the red flag was out following a Piastri crash. He also received two penalty points, and even Leclerc began the day by running into the bock of Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, as the Canadian ghosted into the path of the Ferrari whilst on a slow lap.

Despite damage being visible, Leclerc was able to continue, however Stroll was forced to drop out and played no part in the remaining session as he received rear suspension damage, and the team needed to replace his gearbox.

As for Piastri, he finished second despite the earlier crash that he had been involved in, which concerned him going nose first into the barriers on the first corner, Sainte Devote, but despite a broken front wing he was obviously able to continue and remained pretty pleased with the showing, albeit describing it as being 'quite messy' at points.

As for Hamilton and his third-place finish, he just seemed to be intent on enjoying himself following his change of team this year. Describing Monaco as the 'coolest track' and 'the most fun' he just seemed blessed to be still involved after his long, storied and successful career in the sport and the Formula 1 standings.

As ever, practice sessions do always involve a little bit of tweaking and tinkering as teams look for the best balance in their engineering for the race proper, and Verstappen admitted they had probably pushed the tinkering a bit too far for P2, but again, for the vast majority of Formula 1 fans they will just be pleased to see that there does not appear to be too much between each of the challengers this year and that should make for some great, and tight, entertainment as the months progress.