Team Ferrari celebrate after taking two podiums during the F1 Grand Prix at the Circuit de Monaco in Monaco, May 26, 2024. /CFP
Charles Leclerc claimed his first win of the season at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.
The 26-year-old Monegasque ended years of frustration at his home race by taking the jewel in the F1 calendar from pole at his third attempt.
"It means a lot," said Leclerc, who screamed over the radio as he took the checkered flag, waved by French soccer forward Kylian Mbappe, while the crowd erupted and Prince Albert gave a royal thumbs up.
"It's the race that made me dream of becoming a Formula One driver one day."
French football star Kylian Mbappe waves the chequered flag at the end of the F1 Grand Prix at the Circuit de Monaco in Monaco, May 26, 2024. /CFP
The win was a lifelong dream come true for Leclerc, who owed much to the dedication and love of his father Herve, who died in 2017 while Leclerc was on his way to the Formula Two title.
The first homegrown winner of F1's showcase race since Louis Chiron in 1931 recalled afterwards how he had watched it as a boy with his father, dreaming of future adventures.
"I remember being so young and watching the race with my friends, obviously with my father, that has done absolutely everything for me to get to where I am today," he said.
"I feel like I don't only accomplish a dream of mine today, but also one of his. It's probably the first time in my career that it happened again while driving, where you've got these flashbacks of all these moments that we have spent together, all the sacrifices that he has done for me to get to where I am. It was both of our dreams to get there... That was, again, as I said earlier, probably the moment that was the most difficult to manage today."
McLaren's Oscar Piastri finished runner-up, 7.1 seconds behind after 78 laps without a chance to overtake on a circuit that often produces processional races, and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz was third.
Red Bull's championship leader and 2023 Monaco winner Max Verstappen started and finished sixth, only the third time in eight races this season that the triple world champion has been beaten.
McLaren's Lando Norris was fourth and George Russell fifth for Mercedes.
Leclerc's success, and first win since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix, trimmed Verstappen's championship lead to 31 points from 48.
Kick Sauber's Chinese racer Zhou Guanyu finished 16th.
(With input from agencies)