IT'S 6AM ON THE FRIDAY OF THE MONACO Grand Prix weekend. There's a good chance the real excitement will be over tomorrow afternoon once Q3 is complete. The Monaco GP is an amazing event but more often than not, a horrible motor race. But that doesn't matter, because the build-up is about to begin in earnest to Charles Leclerc's final, dazzling qualifying lap. Maybe he'll stick it on pole. Maybe he'll stick it into the wall. Maybe... no, that's about the only two possibilities I foresee right now. The man is an artist and heroically committed. Even the relentless talent of Max Verstappen doesn't conjure the same excitement as Ferrari's star man when he's shooting for pole on the streets of Monaco.
Or anywhere else for that matter. Is Charles quicker than Max? It's impossible to say. He's certainly not as consistent, he doesn't have the metronomic and devastating race pace that must be so demoralising to try to compete against, nor is he as ruthless in wheel-to-wheel situations. Yet Leclerc has something magical and intangible.
You just can't keep your eyes away from his Ferrari being danced, dragged, bullied, teased and caressed all at once until it delivers a lap time far beyond what it has any right to record. There's something so raw about the car's body language.
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BEST BUYS BMW M CARS
THE PERFORMANCE CAR LANDSCAPE WOULD HAVE looked very different over the last five decades without BMW. Its M division, founded in 1972, has produced some of the best driver’s cars ever to hit the road, and in the process has provided a stream of benchmark models for its rivals to chase. In recent years, stricter emissions regulations, downsizing and electrification have seen some of those rival cars falter, yet by and large BMW’s M machines have remained strong. In fact, some rank among the greatest the department has made think of the eCoty-winning M2 CS and M5 CS while others are the only options worth recommending in their respective segments. Price tags have risen with performance, however, putting those latest offerings out of reach for many, but the marque’s popularity means there are numerous earlier M models available on the second-hand market for far more attainable figures. Here are four of our favourites.
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