Monaco Grand Prix betting tips and F1 predictions: Golden chance for Leclerc in home race

Where to watch the Monaco Grand Prix

Sky Sports F1, 2pm Sunday

Best bet

Oscar Piastri
1pt each-way 5-1 general

Monaco Grand Prix predictions

Charles Leclerc has a perfect opportunity to finally win his home race after claiming pole position for Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix.

The man from Monte Carlo is hoping he has hit the jackpot at last after a run of rotten luck in the race he wants to win the most.

Leclerc, advised at 4-5 to be the fastest qualifier in the Racing Post, is now 2-5 from 5-4 to convert pole into his first victory of the season and the sixth of his career.

He should be hard to beat but while Max Verstappen won from the front last year, Leclerc qualified fastest in 2021 and 2022 and failed to win either race. In 2021, he did not even line up at the start having damaged his car and 12 months later strategic blunders by the Ferrari team left him in fourth.

The Ferrari has looked good all week at Monaco as it rides the kerbs better than its rival cars and while Leclerc's team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr. has taken a back seat in most sessions he qualified well in third and is also in the mix.

World champion Max Verstappen's run of taking pole at every race this season ended in disappointing fashion as he was able to qualify only sixth after hitting the barriers early in his final attempt. The Red Bull ace had been up with the Ferraris and McLaren's earlier in the session but has been fighting the car all weekend. While he will tempt some at race odds of up to 14-1, he will need plenty of luck with safety-car periods to challenge for victory and a return visit to the walls cannot be ruled out.

Monaco is a circuit that showcases driver skill more than most and McLaren's Oscar Piastri confirmed that he is a real talent by taking second on the grid. It was not the only session in which he has outshone teammate Lando Norris and after twice finishing runner-up in Monte Carlo in F2, he has a great chance to at least repeat that finish on Sunday. The 6-1 that was available soon after qualifying didn't last long but with two places the young Aussie is still worth an each-way interest at 5-1.

Norris was unlucky on his final run, when he was hampered by Sainz, and has a chance to fight at the front if he bides his time from fourth on the grid.

Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have had one of their better weekends of the season, qualifying in fifth and seventh, and their battle with Verstappen should be fun to watch at least.

Pierre Gasly of Alpine is something of a Monaco specialist, having scored points in four of his five races at the track and after making it through to Q3 he has a great chance of claiming his first points of the season.

The Haas cars of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were both disqualified from qualifying after their DRS systems failed a technical inspection. They will both hard to start from the pit-lane.

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