At some point between 2010 and 2017 Charles Leclerc angered an extremely powerful Monegasque witch and got his ass cursed. What he did to land himself in this situation we can only guess but if I was him I would be taking a long hard look at my actions during that time period to try and determine what triggered this curse and how I could reverse it. However I doubt he is actually doing that because Charles himself is not superstitious and does not acknowledge the curse. Which I get you have to have 100% confidence in yourself as a driver especially around a place like Monaco and if you start believing you’re cursed it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. However the series of events that have unfolded over the last 7 years are so remarkable they simply must be acknowledged. Because it would be one thing if he was just not winning, or even if he had made mistake himself, but somehow Charles always gets fucked by something totally out of his own control* in a new and unique way every year.*one could argue that most of these are actually 100% ferrari’s fault and that isn’t technically totally outside charles’ control bc he very much is like i am riding w ferrari which i love that’s so beautiful but like just technically in terms of control i would never bring that up tho bc i never mean to imply that ferrari is not the best i am a loyal subject of the kingdom of ferrari also this is a bigger picture conversation than charles’ monaco misfortune but as i was writing it i was like, well
The reason I highlight the suffering we have all been through is not to subtly add to the Charles’ crashes narrative or to laugh at his continued heartbreak like more than some of the coverage I’ve seen on it. I don’t like the tone and I don’t like that they don’t fully explain what happened. The reason I bring it up is because while obviously no one wants to be the subject of a curse, it’s not all bad. Breaking a cruse is objectively one of the coolest things you can do in sports. The Red Sox’ 2004 World Series run is still one of the most iconic post-season performances in sports. Their comeback in the ALDS agains the Yankees IS the greatest comeback in the history of sports*
*you could make a case for the Pats/Falcons 28-3 comeback and I am way more of a football person but THE CURSE it was also just magical so argue with the wall
Charles will win Monaco, I just know it, and when he does it will be such an iconic moment that everyone will remember it forever and everyone will jump into the harbor holding hands and they all lived happily ever after the end. In all seriousness, it will be such an awesome and memorable moment when he does all the more so because of the dark forces at work against him. The worst part is I’m like 63.82% serious but I will lay out the facts and let you decide for yourselves.
2010
Charles’ history with Monaco started on a high note, he won the 2010 Monaco Kart Cup in a wet race. (Kart.com)
2017
Unless I am mistaken (which I could be because Wikipedia only had the schedule for the single seater series he competed in and I didn’t feel like looking up the calendars for all those Karting series, sorry) Charles did not race at Monaco again until 2017 when he was in F2 competing for Prema.
Charles started the race on pole (Formula 2, Archive). After maintaining his lead & building a gap this is what the Wikipedia for the race says happened:
“Leclerc took his compulsory pitstop immediately and came out in fourth place after initial confusion with the safety car saw him lose the gap and then some to Rowland. Worse would come for Leclerc after an insecure tyre would force him into the pits on the restart. However, it would not come right for Leclerc and subsequently, was forced to retire from the race.”
He also DNF’d in the sprint race.
2018
After winning F2 in his rookie season, In 2018, Charles made his F1 debut with Sabuer. In Monaco, on Lap 70, Charles’ brakes failed.
2019
This year Charles was promoted to Ferrari and they fucked him over with terrible strategy at Monaco, start as you mean to go on I suppose. In Q1 Charles’ first lap was pretty good but he locked up so it for sure could have been better. He was then saying something about his tyres but you can’t really hear it because fucking Gunter was talking. But instead of, you know, changing his tires and sending him out for his final lap, Ferrari held him in the garage because they thought they were safe. He got taken to the weighbridge but there was more than 5 min left at that point like even Seb can in, changed tires, and went back out way after Charles pitted. so he got knocked out and has to start P16 l o l.
Now in the race he was driving like an insane person and it was working for a second there, he was making moves, he was overtaking, he got up to P12. But then he tried to overtake Hulkenberg and bumped the wall and had to retire. This is frustrating because people will say it’s his fault he crashed, which it is, but that does not give the full picture. Like it’s Monaco, if Charles wanted to get points from P16 he was going to have to make some risky moves. Yes, Charles does occasionally push too hard but it’s almost always because Ferrari has put him in an impossible situation and he is then expected to overcome it. It’s incredibly frustrating, anyway here’s the clip or whatever.
He said I am ending up on the podium or in the harbor and listen, was that outcome inevitable? Yes, but your honor it was iconic. He wasn’t going to get points anywayyyyy come on do not let this distract you from the fact that it was Ferrari’s miscalculation that sealed Charles’ fate of getting no points.
2020
We didn’t have a Monaco GP because of the vid. Though, if you recall that season (don’t blame you if you don’t personally I’ve tried to block it out) he didn’t stand a chance anyway.
2021
Okay, so he crashed in quali which was his fault HOWEVER he still got pole. Now, there were concerns about the gearbox which obviously they couldn’t replace without a penalty, they did look at the gearbox & it seemed fine. Then on the way to the grid tragedy struck and Charles reported a loss of power. Now if this had been an issue with the gear box I would agree with the haters (MARTIN BRUNDLE) who say it was Charles’ fault for crashing in quali in the first place because even if Ferrari realized there’s nothing they could have done about it without forcing Charles to start from the pit lane. BUT IT WASN’T AN ISSUE WITH THE GEARBOX. It ended up being his left driveshaft which they had not inspected because it wasn’t damaged in the crash. (RaceFans) Given that they could have fixed this issue without incurring a penalty and any normal team can fix a fucking car after a crash in quali I really think this wasn’t his fault. Plenty of drivers have crashes in quali and then go on to race without an issue, (see: Sergio Perez literally the next year). Like this is just incompetence. Also if you don’t believe me that it wasn’t the gearbox I truly can’t blame you because everyone at Sky but especially Martin Brundle have repeatedly (incorrectly) said that it was a problem with his gearbox, so here is Mattia Binotto telling you himself after the race.
2022
Charles got pole and started on wet tires like everyone else, except the Red Bulls who started on inters, he lead the race until he pitted for inters on lap 18. This was already a mistake, they should have waited and jumped right to slicks which people did literally the next lap. So he’s already probably fucked, but just in case he could have made it work and pulled a gap on the inters Ferrari decided to really make sure.
At this point he’s still technically in the net lead even though he’s for sure going to have to pit again for slicks, Carlos and Checo are ahead of him on track though because they haven’t pitted yet. Then Carlos pits for slicks on LAP 22 because apparently they realized they fucked up with Charles. Then at literally exactly the same time they tell Charles to pit 5 feet before the pit land and then as he’s literally pulling up to Ferrari’s pit box (currently occupied by Carlos) they’re like stay out. Dude, it wasn’t even close like he’s right behind you how do you not know that. He has to wait there foreverrrrrrr it was tragic and both of the Red Bulls ended up passing them. A shitshow all around.
Bonus 2022: Charles drive Niki Lauda’s 1974 Ferrari 312 B3 (I rlly can’t with the random numbers but this is what Planet F1 called it so if it’s wrong go yell at them not me) at the Monaco Historic GP. A brake disk ended up failing causing him to go into the barriers or as Autosport put it “Charles Leclerc lost the rear end.” Like the way this is reported actually makes me feel insane like the brake disk failed, there was nothing he could do but look at all the articles.
Like it’s okay (if dumb) to be wrong initially/before more info came out but update the title??? Publish a correction??? Send him flowers and a 10 page letter begging for forgiveness???????? Autosport actually did end up reporting it correctly & providing VISUAL EVIDENCE of the broken disk
I’m unreasonably annoyed by this but whatever, he was okay and that’s all that matters (also i’m pretty sure the car was repaired as well and it wasn’t even the first time someone crashed it.)
2023
He qualified third, he wasn’t loving the car that weekend (or year lol) but it was a good result, Carlos was 5th. However he was given a 3 place grid drop for impeding, interestingly (obviously)
In their decision, officials note that after reviewing team radio Leclerc’s team “failed to give him any warning about Norris’ approach until Norris was already directly behind him. Further, race officials found that “there is much that Leclerc could have done prior to the tunnel to avoid the impeding had he received warning from the team at an appropriate time, especially considering that Norris’ approach was clear on the marshalling system. Thus, the Stewards consider that the impeding was unnecessary.” (SB Nation)
So he started 6th, the race was fine, he finished 6th. Nothing to write home about but once again the unforced errors by Ferrari are clear.
In conclusion Charles is CURSED cursed, but curses are made to be broken & maybe this is the year. I have faith, Charles could pull off an insane quali lap or maybe a wild monagasque squirrel will bite Max Verstappen in the ankle on the way to the track and he will have to miss the race to go to the hospital to go get a rabies shot, you never know.
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