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Charles Leclerc was heartbroken after losing the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix to Lando Norris on May 25. Despite minimal overtake opportunities, Leclerc believed in himself to put pressure on Norris and induce mistakes, but his plan didn't work out in hindsight.
The 2025 Monaco Grand Prix was largely a dull race, as only one legal overtake was pulled off by Aston Martin's Lance Stroll on the final lap. The rest of the event was just cars forming a DRS train. Norris, who began the race from pole, won his first career Monaco GP.
Leclerc, who won his home race at the same track last year, had to settle for P2. Despite the challenging conditions, the Monagasque believed in securing his second win at home. He spent the night formulating a plan to overtake Norris.
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Moreover, Max Verstappen slowed down before his second pit stop on the penultimate lap, thus bunching up the cars behind him and possibly creating the chance for a move.
However, Charles Leclerc was eventually unsuccessful, as every time he saw a possible gap, Norris seemingly anticipated it and defended well. Even at turn 1 on the first lap, the McLaren driver locked up, but Leclerc was unable to maximize the opportunity, allowing Norris to recover and maintain the lead.
Meanwhile, a heartbroken Leclerc expressed disappointment and said (via Racingnews365):
"When Max at the end was in front, I really believed in it until the very end. I thought about it all night, the two or three places where I could try something on Lando, and I was willing to take all the risks possible to try and get that win."
He added:
"But, unfortunately, these opportunities never came. Or at least I had maybe two or three laps where I was like, 'OK, maybe I'll go for it,' but Lando straight away saw those and defended very well. So I basically couldn't really go and try something. At the end, there were no opportunities for me."
Regardless, Leclerc got his second podium of the season by finishing P2 in front of his home crowd.
Charles Leclerc pinpoints where he lost the Monaco GP
After finishing second in the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc reflected on what might have been, admitting that the race was essentially lost during Saturday’s qualifying.
Talking to Sky Sports, he said:
"At the end of the day, we lost the race yesterday. We should have done a better job. Lando did a better job this weekend and deserved the win."
Regardless, finishing in the top 10 appeared a distant goal for Leclerc until Saturday. Hence, he was grateful to get a podium.
"I realized a childhood dream last year, not this year, but considering everything, it was a lot above our expectations. I thought being in the top 10 would be a challenge; at the end we are second and very close to P2. It has been a good weekend overall, but I wish I won," he added.
Charles Leclerc is standing strong at P5 in the championship race with 79 points in eight races. However, he is yet to win a single race, as Ferrari is lagging behind McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes in terms of performance.
