The fault in his stars – Monaco’s Charles Leclerc destined for home defeat

Charles Leclerc’s nickname is Il Destinato. The Destined. His hometown victory for Ferrari last year was celebrated from the rooftops of Fort Antoine to the Monaco Courthouse. And yet there’s more chance of the casino going broke than Leclerc defending his crown on Sunday.

Charles Leclerc. Picture: Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP

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Charles Leclerc is a born-and-bred Monegasque. Il Destinato saunters into the million-star Fairmont Hotel and glances at the luxurious interior like it’s no biggie. Monte Carlo doesn’t appear to have a distasteful side. The portable bathrooms on Avenue d’Ostende provide sweeping billion-dollar views.

I’m wondering about the seven sporting wonders of the world. Does such a list exist? You’d have the Circuit de Monaco on it. The Formula One race itself might be a fizzer because of the outdated street circuit but the scenery is unrivalled. Only Amen Corner at Augusta National Golf Club can take your breath away to the same extent. These are oil paintings of locations.

Mega-excitement isn’t necessarily the base emotion of McLaren’s Lando Norris but he says, “I’m mega-excited to be in Monaco.”

A whole host of superstars call the principality home. It’s a tax haven and mega-slice of heaven. Ringo Starr has a pad in an exclusive apartment block called Roccabella. One of his neighbours is Shirley Bassey, whom he can probably hear singing in the shower. Novak Djokovic, Lewis Hamilton, Bjorn Borg, Max Verstappen and Norris have humble little abodes in the principality. U2’s Bono owns a place at a spectacular nearby beach called Eze. You can’t miss it. It’s the four-storey, 20-room mansion painted bright pink. Bono’s found what he’s looking for.

The 27-year-old Leclerc can regard them all as blow-ins. They flew here, Leclerc grew here. He was born in downtown Monte Carlo, where his mother, Pascale, was a hairdresser. He won a locals-only kart race around the Monaco track when he was 12. Perhaps that’s the solution to the annual F1 mega-congestion? Put ’em all in karts on a track that is only 10m wide at notorious corners such as Sainte-Devote, the Fairmont hairpin, the tunnel and Rascasse.

Hometown hero winner Charles Leclerc celebrates after the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco last year. Picture: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Leclerc’s hometown victory for Ferrari last year was celebrated from the rooftops of Fort Antoine to the Monaco Courthouse, where a crook can marvel at the architecture before being thrown in the clink.

And yet there’s more chance of the casino going broke than Leclerc defending his crown. He looks right at home around here because he is right at home around here, regarding the palatial Fairmont like you may view a favourite little seaside cafe, but frustration is building in the man who’s carried the nickname of Il Destinato – The Destined – since his teens.

“Our performance compared to McLaren is just not good enough,” he said.

Leclerc will get the Prancing Horse’s share of support on Sunday. But there’s a fault in his stars. I’m guessing The Destined didn’t expect his destiny to be trailing Oscar Piastri by the proverbial mile in the driver’s championship. He’s become Il Condannato. The Doomed.

“I don’t think that we have the best car,” says Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur. “Even when we’re in good shape in the race, we’re not faster than the McLaren. We are there, probably, but not fast enough. There is a bit of frustration for us.

“We need to put all our effort on Monaco. It’s a unique race and know how crucial qualifying is. We’re working specifically on improving our flying lap performance. It’s Charles’s home race and that makes the event special for the team. We’re fully determined to put him in the best possible position to maximise his performance.”

Leclerc is followed followed by teammate Lewis Hamilton in the Italian Emilia Romagna Formula One Grand Prix last weekend. Picture: AP Photo/Luca Bruno

You’re in mega-trouble in a car race when your car isn’t fast enough. Piastri is coming off a deflating third at Imola and yet he doesn’t appear deflated at all. He seems able to leave disappointments in the city he’s just departed. And he rebounds well. After skidding out of contention at the Australian Grand Prix in one of the toughest moments of his career, he won the next race in China, and four of the next five.

“Monaco was a really strong weekend for me last year,” Piastri says in reference to finishing second to Leclerc. “And it’s a track that I’ve enjoyed some good results at throughout my junior career. It’s always one of the highlights of the calendar and I go into this race determined, hungry and fully focused on the unique challenge that Monaco’s famous streets pose.”

The talk from the public beach at Larvotto to the private beach outside the big pink joint at Eze is whether Piastri is rough and tough enough to beat Red Bull’s four-time world champion Max Verstappen. The Dutch-born Verstappen is home sweet home in his sprawling apartment after his thunderous triumph at Imola.

“It was amazing to kick start the (European) triple-header with a win,” Verstappen says. “We made a lot of positive steps. I felt a lot more comfortable in the car and this puts us in a more positive position moving forward.

“We’ll need to keep pushing and not get ahead of ourselves as Monaco will be a bit tougher, with it being a street circuit. It hasn’t been our strongest track in the past but we have made a step forward with the set-up.”

Leclerc gets a pit service. Picture: AP Photo/Luca Bruno

Verstappen’s RB21 has looked ready for the tip at certain stages of the season. Yet he’s won in Japan and Imola, and his mechanics and engineers have fixed 99 of the car’s hundred problems and suddenly he’s breathing down Piastri’s neck.

“Again, qualifying is key here,” Verstappen says. “We’re reliant on strategy. It will be about getting a good result on Saturday in qualifying and extracting the best possible performance out of the car. It’ll also be nice to be close to home for this race, especially when it’s such a hectic and busy weekend.”

I’m guessing it’s nice for Starr, Bassey, Djokovic, Hamilton, Borg, Verstappen, Norris and Bono to be home on any weekend. Monaco averages 300 sunny days a year.

“It’s great to race here,” Norris says before trying to eliminate his 13-point deficit to Piastri.

They’ve done an in-house promotional video in which the McLaren teammates are sitting by a pool, playing ping-pong, having a fine old time. Perhaps they can have a gentlemen’s battle for the world title? Perhaps cordiality is possible despite only one of them being the real Il Destinato.