Ferrari's Charles Leclerc desperate to right past wrongs at Monaco Grand Prix

After an unexpected sojourn created by flooding in Imola, the Formula One world championship moves to the famous streets of Monte Carlo on Sunday and the contradiction that is the best event and, usually, one of the worst races of the year.

With overtaking next to impossible, especially with this year’s bloated car designs, the greatest grand prix on the calendar, the jewel in the sport’s crown, is all about Saturday’s qualifying.

Thread the needle through the narrow streets, put the car on pole and victory is almost certain. That’s the way the story goes. Or is supposed to. But tell that to Charles Leclerc.

Ferrari’s main man is achingly desperate to win his home race on the streets outside the front door he has used since he began walking to school as a child.

More so because he has set pole for the past two years and failed to win a practically unloseable Grand Prix.

It is 50 years since anyone has managed that in successive years, going back to Jackie Stewart in 1969 and '70. But then, those were the days when F1 cars broke down. In the modern era of rock-solid reliability, Leclerc’s "achievement" stands alone.

And Stewart had already won the race once by then and went on to win it twice more from pole.

In 2021, Leclerc was a victim of his own making, crashing after setting pole and ruling himself out of Sunday’s start. Last year was down to an epic strategy bungle by his own team. But he is proof at least that, at Monaco anyway, talent can mean more than machinery.

Top dogs, as they undoubtedly are after winning the first five rounds, Red Bull are certainly not guaranteed pole on Saturday.

Max Verstappen will have to stretch nerve and sinew to beat his teammate Sergio Perez, let alone Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton or