“Very, very proud” - Charles Leclerc reacts after carrying the Olympics torch in Monaco

Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc stated that he felt "very proud" to be the first Olympic torchbearer in Monaco. This came weeks after he won the F1 Grand Prix in his home country.

At 2:15 pm on the streets of Monaco, 26-year-old Charles Leclerc took the traditional Olympic torch that had made its way from Olympus in Greece, and walked down from the Juan Manuel Fangio statue. The statue is placed close to where the Grand Prix circuit maps. He then handed over the torch to Alexandra Coletti, a Monegasque skier. She previously competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Reacting to being the first torchbearer for Monaco, Leclerc told TV Monaco:

"It is a great honor for me to be able to bring the Olympic Flame here, to my home country. I am very, very proud."

Earlier, towards the end of May, Leclerc won his home Grand Prix for the first time after a string of what fans labeled as "unlucky" incidents. This included a gearbox failure prior to the start of the race after qualifying in pole position (2021), a strategy mishap (2022), and some other incidents.

However, Ferrari has seemingly developed very well. They are in contention within the top three teams. Currently, their main competitors are McLaren as both the teams are in a race to beat Red Bull at the top of the championship.

---

Charles Leclerc's consistent performances close him up on Max Verstappen

After a rather disappointing 2023 F1 season for the Italian team, their development has brought them closer to Red Bull. In fact, there is only a 49-point gap between the two constructors. The only threat that Ferrari has, as mentioned, is McLaren. The latter currently has one of the fastest cars on the grid.

Charles Leclerc has performed consistently this season. Other than his victory at Monaco, he has finished within the top four of every single race. The Canadian GP turned out to be a disappointment for the team after he faced engine issues and had to retire later in the race.

This consistency has helped him to hold on to the second spot in the championship. However, Lando Norris of McLaren is only seven points away after finishing P2 in Canada.

The upgrades that Ferrari introduced this season have helped them to overcome their inconsistencies. Speaking about the same, Charles Leclerc earlier said (via RacingNews365):

"I think we've had a really good approach in the last seven to eight months in order to be very quick in addressing the issues that we had on the car, and that's why we are the team that have improved the most in those in this period."

While they might not be the fastest car on the grid, but if Ferrari continues to develop in the right direction, they can battle with Red Bull for the world championship.