When someone says “You only watch Formula 1 because the drivers are hot”, they’re talking about Charles Leclerc, the 26-year-old Scuderia Ferarri driver. Charles has gained a massive fanbase throughout his 6 years in Formula 1.
But, like all drivers, Charles had a long history of racing before he set foot in a Formula 1 car (in case it wasn’t obvious).
Early Life
Leclerc was born on the 16th of October, 1997 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. He comes from a family of motorsport. His younger brother, Arthur Leclerc is an F1 development driver for Ferarri. This means in that family, Charles is the guy who drives the car and Arthur is the guy who parks it.
Charles began his F1 journey like most others, in a kart. He started karting when he was only five, which is actually around the time I started learning to walk in a straight line, and I like to think I’ve mastered that by now 💪.
To give you an idea of how young he was when he started racing, his first sponsor was Fisher-Price.
Charles was very successful in karting, winning multiple championships in the junior and cadet categories all across Europe.
Transition to Formula Racing
Leclerc began his Formula journey in the 2014 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series, where he was very successful. He continued to excel through 2016, winning the GP3 Series championship with the ART Grand Prix team. F1 teams claim that this performance is what caught their attention, but I think we all know that his face caught their eye first.
In 2017 Charles moved to Formula 2, driving for Prema Racing, and since I have an opportunity to talk about Kimi, I’m going to, Kimi also drove for Prema Racing in his early years. Leclerc won the 2017 FIA Formula 2 Championship, making him a very strong contender for F1 positions. 2017 was also the year that Charles lost his father.
Leclerc in Formula 1
Charles made his F1 debut with the Sauber team in 2018, alongside driver Marcus Erricson - I would tell you more about him, but I have no idea who he is. And just in case you didn’t know, Sauber has now turned into Stake. During his rookie season, Charles scored points and showcased his talent massively.
2019 may very well have been the best year of Leclerc’s life as it’s the year he signed with Scuderia Ferarri. Not only had he just signed with one of the top F1 teams but he also kept a “promise” he made to his father before he died. A week before Herve passed, Charles lied to him and told him that he had signed with Ferarri and would race for them in 2019, this of course, was not true at the time. After actually signing with Ferarri, Charles says the first thing he thought was “I didn’t lie that day”. This was made even more incredible through his 2019 Monza win.
Present Day
Since 2019 Charles has continued to be one of the top drivers in Formula One and has recently signed a contract to stay with Ferarri until 2028. This year, Charles has won the Italy Grand Prix and his home race in Monaco. Charles Leclerc has a very bright future ahead of him - I’m told that’s why we always see him in sunglasses (I’m sorry that joke was so bad it was almost painful to write).
XOXO,
Mirabella - The girl on the Grid