Local boy Leclerc targets a spot in Monaco's royal box

The treacherous twists and turns of the Circuit de Monaco have not been kind to this small principality's prodigal son. It took until 2022 - after two retirements and one devastating failure to make the start line after qualifying on pole, with a Covid cancellation thrown in the middle - for Charles Leclerc to finish his home grand prix. And even that was ruined by a strategy failure, confining him to fourth after also qualifying on pole.

- KIERAN JACKSON

Two years on, the Ferrari driver is heading into his sixth Monaco Grand Prix having never stood in the royal box overlooking the main straight, with Monaco the only race not to have an official podium for the top-three drivers. There is nowhere Leclerc, currently second in the world championship and trailing Max Verstappen by 48 points after seven races, would rather ignite a title challenge than here. The taste of the victory champagne would hit differently. You can bet it'd be expensive, too.

"Second or third is not really something that excites me," Leclerc said on Thursday. "The win is what we need to target. We've seen in the last few races that Red Bull, McLaren and ourselves are pretty close in qualifying and we know how important qualifying is here so we'll have to put everything together.

"If we are on pole, then that will give us a good chance to get what we want, which is a win."

Leclerc added that he wanted to see where his Ferrari car was after Friday practice. The answer? Quickest in the second session and, in F1 spiel, by some margin: nearly two-tenths of a second to Lewis Hamilton behind him, with Fernando Alonso in third.