Dubbed as Ferrari's "favorite child", Charles Leclerc is forging an incredible F1 career, despite still chasing that one elusive championship.
Dubbed as Ferrari's "favorite child", Charles Leclerc is forging an incredible F1 career, but he's still chasing that one elusive championship.
Since joining the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2016, Charles Leclerc has impressed his way into the Formula 1 grid. The World Championship still eludes Leclerc to this day, but he already has nine Grand Prix wins to his name. That's not bad for the 28-year-old Monegasque driver.
As he navigates his eighth year in Ferrari, let's look back at Leclerc's racing journey, starting from the minor leagues and the accolades he collected along the way.
When did Charles Leclerc start his racing career?
Leclerc started karting at a young age, around five to seven years old. His father, former Formula 3 driver Herve Leclerc, was a big influence on his racing aspirations. However, Herve passed away in 2017, when Leclerc was still in Formula 2. Later on, Leclerc dedicated his first F1 Monaco Grand Prix win to his late father.
Meanwhile, Leclerc's grandfather, Charles Manni, was the founder of automotive parts manufacturer Novares Group (formerly called Mecaplast). While there's no report saying that Manni directly sponsored his grandson, the family still had adequate resources to fund Leclerc's initial karting expenses.
Still, Leclerc eventually ran out of funds to cover his costly expenses. His late godfather, Jules Bianchi, came to the rescue and introduced Leclerc to French motorsport manager Nicolas Todt. Todt then watched Leclerc become the youngest winner of the Monaco Kart Cup in 2010, and came away impressed.
Todt would sign Leclerc to All Road Management, a racing driver scouting and management company that he founded in 2003. To this day, Todd remains Leclerc's manager.
Progression from junior leagues to Formula 3
After winning 11 karting championships between 2005 and 2013, Leclerc made his single-seater auto racing debut in 2014.
He first competed in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps championship. He raced for Fortec, accumulated 249 points, and won the Juniors' championship in his first year.
In 2015, Leclerc moved up to the FIA European Formula 3, signing with Van Amersfoort Racing. The grid included talented drivers like George Russell, Alexander Albon, Lance Stroll, and Antonio Giovinazzi. He won four races, specifically at Silverstone, Hockenheimring, Spa-Francorchamps, and Norisring.
Leclerc took the F3 championship lead after the race in Spa, which was impressive for a rookie. That lead faded later on, but he still secured the FIA F3 rookie championship.
Racing for ART Grand Prix in GP3
In 2016, Leclerc joined the Ferrari Driver Academy and signed with ART to compete in the GP3 Series. He emerged victorious in the opening race at Barcelona and went on to win two more races, eight podiums, and four pole positions. With 202 points, Leclerc defeated ART teammate Alex Albon to become the 2016 GP3 champion.
Leclerc signed with Prema Racing in 2017 and went up against Albon, Nicolas Latifi, and Nyck de Vries in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. Leclerc dominated his competition, building a 72-point lead over runner-up Artem Markelov to secure the F2 championship.
At that point, it was a no-brainer for an F1 team to sign Leclerc's services.
Signs with Sauber in 2018
After driving in F1 Free Practice sessions for Haas and Sauber in 2016 and 2017, Leclerc finally secured a Formula 1 seat in 2018. He replaced Pascal Wehrlein and joined Marcus Ericsson to form the Sauber lineup for the 2018 F1 grid.
Leclerc scored his first F1 points in Baku, when he finished sixth at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. By scoring points in 10 of the 21 races, Leclerc produced 39 points in his debut season, 30 points ahead of his teammate Ericsson.
Leclerc finished P13 in the 2018 F1 Drivers' Championship.
Joins Ferrari in 2019
Historically, Ferrari has been averse to promoting young drivers to an F1 seat. They favored experienced, veteran drivers over young talent. For instance, Ferrari had 30-year-old Sebastian Vettel and the 38-year-old Kimi Raikkonen as their drivers in 2018.
But in 2019, the team surprised everyone when they signed a then-21-year-old Charles Leclerc to replace the veteran Raikkonen. It speaks to the generational talent that Ferrari, and frankly the rest of the paddock, saw in the young Monegasque driver.
Since then, Leclerc has won 11 races for the Scuderia, and finished second behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen in the 2022 F1 Drivers' Championship.
Leclerc's best F1 wins
- 2019 Italian Grand Prix: One week after winning his first F1 win at Spa, Leclerc started on pole at Ferrari's home race and won the Sunday race. He successfully held off attacks from Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.
- 2022 Austrian Grand Prix: Leclerc made a statement at Red Bull's home race, passing Max Verstappen three separate times for the win.
- 2024 Monaco Grand Prix: After years of heartbreaking crashes and strategy blunders in Monte Carlo, Leclerc finally broke through the "Monaco curse" in 2024. He led every lap and became the first Monegasque driver to win in Monaco during the World Championship era.
Leclerc's personal life
Charles Leclerc is married to Alexandra Saint Mleux, a French fashion icon and art historian. They adopted a long-haired dachshund named Leo, who frequents the paddock during race weekends.
Outside of racing, Leclerc has his own low-calorie ice cream brand named LEC. As a pianist, Leclerc has also written and released multiple piano singles, which are available on Spotify and Apple Music.
