Leclerc was "was willing to take all the risks possible" to grab second home victory

Although Charles Leclerc failed to secure a home victory at Monte Carlo after his maiden Monaco win from last year, the Ferrari driver revealed after his faultless and sensational performance that he "was willing to take all the risks possible."

Leclerc realized his childhood dream last year when he won his home race at Monte Carlo. Although the Monegasque usually excels around the narrow and twisty streets of the Principality, he had arrived at his home race in a pessimistic mood given Ferrari’s up-and-down season.

Despite his low expectations, the 27-year-old displayed eye-catching pace through the practice sessions, setting the benchmark in all three one-hour outings.

The Ferrari driver continued to impress in qualifying, but he failed to beat Lando Norris and was left in second place. Despite the introduction of the mandatory two-stop strategy for this year’s Monte Carlo round, there was no change at the front, with Leclerc coming home second behind the his McLaren rival.

Asked whether there were any opportunities to win the race at Monte Carlo, Leclerc revealed that he was considering several places where he could have launched an attack on Norris.

"It's very difficult. When Max at the end was in front, I really believed in it until the very end. I thought about it all night, the two or three places where I could try something on Lando, and I was willing to take all the risks possible to try and get that win.

"But, unfortunately, these opportunities never came. Or at least I had maybe two or three laps where I was like, “OK, maybe I go for it,” but Lando straight away saw those and defended very well.

"So I basically couldn't really go and try something. At the end, there were no opportunities for me. I think there were maybe two laps in Rascasse, which was the place where I was trying, and maybe one in Fairmont. But the Fairmont one was very optimistic, maybe."

Last Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix saw the introduction of the mandatory two-stop strategy which meant drivers were obliged to use three sets of tyres.

Although the sport wanted to generate more spectacle with two mandatory stops, several teams - including Williams, Racing Bulls and Mercedes - used team games that saw drivers drop four seconds a lap in order to create a gap for a "free" pit stop for their team-mate.

Pushed on to offer his view on the mandatory two-stop strategy , Leclerc was reluctant to give a definite answer whether Formula One should carry the one-off sporting rule over into next year.

"I think being second today, I was pretty happy that this was the case because it at least gives you a little bit more hope that something is possible.

"Honestly, it was quite interesting because with the traffic and everything, there was lots of things happening, or at least you had to push through traffic, which is a very tricky thing to do, especially here in Monaco.

"So I think it gives more opportunities. I’ve heard also there were quite a lot of team games behind us. Whether this is the kind of action we want to see going ahead, I don’t know.

"I haven’t looked at the race yet. But, yeah, it’s always been a bit like that in Monaco. It's special for that, especially on the Saturday when you're pushing to the limit. That’s why it’s so important and tense for drivers to go into qualifying in Monaco because we know that then on Sunday you don’t have as many opportunities.

"That is part of the magic of Monaco. Then I understand we need to try and find a way to make it a bit more exciting, and maybe that’s the way to go. But I haven’t checked the race to really judge," Leclerc concluded.