Charles Leclerc's heartbreaking "I'm fine" tweet goes viral in reaction to the three-place grid penalty for the 2023 F1 Monaco GP

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc's Monaco curse struck once again on Saturday after he was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding McLaren driver Lando Norris during the qualifying session.

The Monagasque driver has never had a clean weekend at his home race as always falls prey to some situation in the principality. This time around he was found guilty of blocking Norris in the tunnel section of the track.

Charles Leclerc took to his social media to express his disappointment over the penalty and shared a meme, to sum up his feelings:

In his post-quali press conference, Leclerc said:

"Well, I mean, as Fernando said, it's not the track where you can overtake and even if we could overtake, I think that in terms of race pace, we are a little bit behind. But let's see, I mean the forecast, I haven't seen the forecast recently, last time I checked it, there was some rain around. So, if this is the case, then there will be a little bit of luck into play too. And hopefully, we can take the right choices and make up some positions.

"Whether it was my best lap around Monaco, I don't think so" - Charles Leclerc

The Monagasque driver accepted that it was tough for drivers to overtake in Monaco and claimed that he did not think his lap in qualifying was his best.

He said:

"I think our last lap, we were speaking with Fernando, and we go into Turn 3, 4, 13 especially, and you're just like 'OK, let's see what happens!' You release the brakes and you don't see anything because the car is moving like crazy with the bumps. I really struggled with that, the whole weekend, and yeah, in Q3, you just go for it and see what happens."

He continued:

"So, it was a good feeling. Whether it was my best lap around Monaco, I don't think so. I think last year was a pretty good qualifying, but I was also more at ease with the car. But it's always exciting in Monaco, and it always feels amazing. Then our chances for the win, again, as I said, I think it's going to be difficult if it's a normal race.

Interestingly, despite having two pole positions in Monaco in the past two seasons, Charles Leclerc has never stood on the podium. Hopefully, with some luck, he can finally taste the champagne and celebrate with his home fans.