Monaco harbour
The famous race around the streets of Monte Carlo has been on the F1 calendar since 1950

Formula 1 dropping the Monaco Grand Prix would be a bad move according to Charles Leclerc.

Liberty Media is assessing how to grow the sport and Monaco is one of several races that are said to be under threat.

It would be a bad move for both parties, said Leclerc, who has lived in Monaco all his life.

I have never known Monaco without F1 apart from Covid reasons in 2020 and F1 without Monaco for me.

Monaco is close to a sell-out for this year's race, but it holds a relatively small crowd because of the limited space in the town - at 68,000 for the weekend, when some races top 400,000 - and it pays what is believed to be the smallest fee.

Liberty is facing pressure to fit more races into the calendar, while not expanding the calendar too much.

Leclerc said it should be set in stone.

Leclerc said that F1 has historic tracks like Monza and Silverstone.

Monaco is one of the best tracks out there, in terms of qualification there are no places I enjoy as much as here, and where the driver can make as much difference.

The races are very close. It is the most exciting of the year because you have the sensation of speed and you can still feel it.

There are things we could change to help overtake in the races. It is one of the toughest challenges of the year for drivers.

He has never finished a race in his hometown of Monaco.

He lost the championship lead to Max Verstappen in Spain last weekend and needs a win on Sunday.

After the third race of the season, Leclerc had a 46-point lead, but a difficult run in the last three races, culminated in an engine failure while he was dominating in Spain last weekend, gave him a six-point deficit.

His record on the track doesn't bother him.

He said that it was not the luckiest track for him. It happens. It is part of the sport, and sometimes things don't go your way, but hopefully this year will be different.

I'll just take the same approach as I've done in the first few races. It has been successful and hopefully it will be successful here at home.

He said he was confident that the team would have the pace to compete for victory this weekend, despite the fact that the team were not generally competitive.

He said that he didn't feel the pressure. It is a very special event for me having grown up here. I have known these roads since I was born.

There is no added pressure. The performance of the car is important for us to do well this weekend. I just have to get in the car and do the job, and hopefully the results will be there at the end of the weekend.

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