Early Life
Charles Marc Herve Perceval Leclerc was born on 16 October 1997 in Monaco. Along with his father, Herve Leclerc, and mother, Pascale shared his early life experiences with an older and younger brother. His father had previously competed in the Formula 3 series of the 1980s and 1990s.
Charles Leclerc – Early Career
1) Karting (2005-2013)
In 2005, Charles Leclerc began racing karts, and in 2005, 2006, and 2008, he won the French championship. Despite becoming French Cadet Champion in 2009, he went up to the KF3 class in 2010 and claimed the Monaco Junior Kart Cup. It was his second year in KF3, and he won the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy, KF3 World Cup, and the Junior ERDF Kart Masters in 2011.
In 2012, Charles Leclerc was promoted to the KF2 category and won the WSK Euro Series. He finished 2nd in the CIK-FIA Karting World Championship and the European Youth Championship. Leclerc finished 6th in the KZ championship and won the South Garda Winter Cup. He also placed 2nd in the World KZ Championship ahead of Max Verstappen.
2) Formula Renault, Formula 3, and GP3 (2014-2016)
Charles Leclerc raced single-seaters for the Fortec British Motorsports team in 2014. It took him seven podiums and two victories at Monza to finish second in the tournament. Also, in Jerez, Leclerc claimed victory in the Junior Championship.
As of 2015, Leclerc competed in the European Formula 3 Championship. He acquired the pole position for the 2nd and 3rd races at Silverstone, where he won both races. After winning the third race of the weekend, he went on to win his first race of the season. As a result of Leclerc’s third victory at Spa-Francorchamps, he then led the championship. In 2015, he secured the 2nd position at the Macau Grand Prix. It was confirmed by de Vries in February 2016 that Leclerc would be racing for the ART Grand Prix team in 2016.
3) FIA Formula 2 Championship (2017)
Leclerc’s move to Formula 2 was announced a week after winning the GP3 title race. He will race for Perma Power for the 2017 season. Bahrain marked his debut, securing the 3rd position and achieving pole position. He couldn’t secure a win in Monaco and had to retire early. In Azerbaijan, he secured four consecutive pole points.
Charles got his 5th pole position in Australia. At Silverstone, he took another pole point and secured the title of most pole positions in a row. Even after Leclerc had faced technical difficulties, he secured the first position in the feature race.
He qualified for 6th place in Abu Dhabi. He managed to get in 4th place for an alternate strategy runner but got promoted to 2nd after the disqualification of two leading players. In the last race of the season, Charles got tangled up with an opponent but was able to secure the 1st position by 1.293 seconds.
Charles Leclerc – Formula One Career
As of 2016, Charles Leclerc became a Ferrari’s Driver Academy member. Charles Leclerc participated in the practice sessions in both the German and British Grand Prix. During the 2017 season, he participated in the Hungaroring test after the Hungarian Grand Prix. On the first day of testing, he was the fastest, clocking 98 laps, but he opted not to take part on the second day.
1) Sauber (2018)
Charles Leclerc signed a contract with the Sauber F1 Team to compete in the 2018 Formula One. As a result of his 6th-place finish at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, he became the 2nd Monegasque to score points in Formula One. Leclerc secured a 9th-place finish in Singapore and a 7th-place finish in Russia. In the season’s final three races, he finished in the 7th position three times in a row. He finished 13th overall with 39 points.
2) Ferrari (2019–Present)
The Scuderia Ferrari team has signed a contract with Charles Leclerc to replace Kimi Raikkonen for the 2019 season. Leclerc’s contract was initially announced for 2019, but the team principal of Ferrari, Maurizio Arrivabene, confirmed it would last until 2022. During the end-of-season testing in November 2018, Leclerc had his first official Ferrari test day.
The Australian Grand Prix was his first Grand Prix as a Ferrari driver, and he finished 5th. At the Bahrain Grand Prix, it was his first pole position in Formula One, and he also broke the Ferrari pole-sitter record during his second qualifying session. Verstappen was unable to finish third due to the late-race safety car, resulting in Leclerc’s first podium finish in Formula One.
In China, Leclerc finished 5th after qualifying 4th behind Sebastian Vettel. He started from the 8th position in Azerbaijan and finished 5th, earning an extra point for his fastest lap. He qualified 4th and finished third in Canada, which was his 2nd podium finish of the season. His second pole position in Formula One came at the Austrian Grand Prix. He finished 2nd in the race due to a collision with Max Verstappen, Red Bull driver.
Leclerc qualified 2nd in Japan but ended up 6th, his lowest placing of the season. In Mexico, he got his 7th pole position of the season. Charles finished 4th in the United States once again this year. He finished 3rd in Abu Dhabi to close out the season.
Leclerc finished fourth in the 2019 championship after scoring 264 points. His first season gave him ten podium finishes, two victories, and four fastest laps, which gave him more pole positions than any other driver. He was also the first Monegasque to win a Formula One Grand Prix.
Leclerc qualified 7th for the Austrian Grand Prix and finished 2nd in the race. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, he qualified 6th, one position behind Vettel, and finished 11th due to lack of speed.
After qualifying 4th for the British Grand Prix, Leclerc finished 3rd to claim his 12th podium finish in F1. He qualified 13th place at the Italian Grand Prix but retired early due to a crash.
He participated in seventeen races throughout the 2020 season. Out of which, he faced an early retirement in four. His highest achievement in the year was when he secured second place at the Austrian Grand Prix. After that, he secured an excellent third-place position at the British Grand Prix. In the championship, he finished 8th, earning 98 points.
Until the end of 2024, Charles Leclerc will drive for Ferrari. The Bahrain Grand Prix was Leclerc’s first race of the year, and he finished 6th. In the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, he started 4th and finished 4th behind Lando Norris. A sixth-place finish at the Portuguese Grand Prix put Leclerc in fifth place in the standings.
His home race was the Monaco Grand Prix, and he qualified on pole. However, he did not start the race due to a driveshaft issue. When he qualified for the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix for the second time in a row, he finished fourth. Leclerc qualified fourth for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone but inherited the race’s lead on the first lap. He finished in 5th place in Italy but immediately moved into 4th place due to Sergio Perez’s penalty.