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Charles Leclerc recently picked the 2019 F1 Italian GP win as his favourite memory since he started racing in the sport. Of course, the Monagasque have been loyal to Ferrari for quite some time now and have always dreamed of driving the red car. Hence, winning a race in Italy, especially in Monza, was extremely special for him.
While in an exclusive Q&A interview with his brother, Arthur Leclerc, Charles instantly picked the 2019 F1 Italian GP as his favourite memory. He explained how it was an intense race where both Mercedes drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, kept putting pressure on him. Fortunately, he kept them behind to clinch the victory.
"Monza 2019. The win was crazy, lot of pressure from Lewis and Valtteri during the whole race, but we managed to bring it home. It was a very, very special weekend, so Monza 2019 for sure."
Later, Arthur explained how he was in the paddock but their mother was in the grandstands. Charles Leclerc explained how their mother was unable to get a paddock pass. However, he assured the viewers that she enjoyed his win quite a lot from the grandstands.
"You were in the paddock, but we did not have a pass for my mother, so she was in the grandstands, but she really enjoyed it actually."
As of now, the Ferrari driver has only won once in Italy. He went on a two-year winless streak in the 2020 and 2021 F1 seasons, finally ending the drought in the 2022 F1 Bahrain GP.
Charles Leclerc on Ferrari SF-23 car concept and the gap to Red Bull
Charles Leclerc recently explained that Ferrari does not need to change its entire concept to close the gap to the front of the grid. However, he admits that there are several departments they need to work on to improve performance. As quoted by PlanetF1, he said:
“For the car concept, we are looking into it. It is still too early to take conclusions out of it. It hasn’t worked the way we wanted, but that doesn’t mean we need to change completely from now. But we have some ideas on where we need to work [to catch Red Bull].”
Ferrari is currently miles behind reigning world champion Red Bull. They stand in fourth place with only 78 points, whereas the Austrian-British team has 224 points.
Charles Leclerc will be heading home for the Monaco GP next on May 28.
