Leclerc can celebrate Ferrari extension by ending Antonelli's winning run

June 3 : Monaco's local hero Charles Leclerc will hope to celebrate his new Ferrari deal on home territory this weekend by ending the Italian team's long winless wait and denying Mercedes teenager Kimi Antonelli a fifth successive victory.

The first race of the European season, after long-haul trips to Asia and North America, offers Ferrari a real chance of ending Mercedes' run of dominance and taking their first grand prix triumph since 2024.

"I think Ferrari is going to be the team to beat in Monaco and it's going to be very interesting how we do there," Antonelli, 19, said after winning in Montreal last month.

The Italian prodigy, Formula One's youngest ever championship leader, has finished first in the last four races and is 43 points clear of teammate George Russell.

But Leclerc has a special affinity with streets he has known since boyhood, watching in awe as Ferrari great Michael Schumacher skimmed the unforgiving metal barriers and roared past the moored super-yachts and shimmering sea.

The 28-year-old has been on pole position three times in the last five years, won in 2024 and was second last year - decisively casting off talk of a Monaco 'jinx' resulting from earlier misfortunes in his career - and is the 7/4 betting favourite. 

Teammate and seven-times champion Lewis Hamilton is a three-times winner in Monaco, a double pole-sitter, and will also want in on the action after finishing second last month in Canada - his best result since joining Ferrari last year.

PLAYING TO THE CAR'S STRENGTHS 

Monaco should play to Ferrari's strengths and mask the weaknesses, with the car strong in corners and well-suited to a slow track where Saturday qualifying is key, grid position crucial and overtaking always tricky.

With few real