Charles Leclerc

World-famous Monegasque racing driver Charles LeClerc is born in Monte Carlo, Monaco to Herve and Pascale Leclerc. The senior Leclerc also raced cars in Formula 3 throughout the 1980s and 1990s. 

Like many successful racers, Charles Leclerc started his career in karting at an early age. In 2005, he secured the French PACA Championship and followed with additional wins in 2006 and 2008. He was also a winner of the Claude Sec trophy 

Leclerc becomes the youngest ever French Cadet Champion and wins the Bridgestone Cup. This year he also won the Valentinois trophy and the Rhone Alpes Champion.

In 2010, Charles Leclerc moved up to the KF3 class and won the Junior Monaco Kart Cup. Years later, Leclerc credited his father’s tips for racing, especially at Monaco, with his early successes.

Following on his successes in 2010, Charles Leclerc signed with the All Road Management Team in 2011. He went on to win the 2011 KF3 World Cup in September. Additional accolades including securing the KF3 CIK-FIA Academy Trophy for the team.

After a successful year with ARM, Leclerc moved up to the KF2 category in 2012. He secured the WSK Euro Series title and also achieved runner-up status in the KF2 class at the European Championship.

To round off his last year of karting, Charles Leclerc racked up numerous awards following his move up to the KZ1 category. Big wins in 2013 included the South Garda Winter Cup and a sixth position finish in the CIK-FIA European KZ championships. In December, he finished second at the CIK-FIA World KZ Championships behind karter Max Verstappen.

After moving up to single-seater racing, Leclerc competed in the Formula Reanult 2.0 Alps championship for Fortec Motorsports, a British team. Leclerc finished at seventeenth. Additional races during the year yielded seven podium visits and a double victory at Monza

Leclerc won the Junior Championship title at the final round of the Formula Renault ALPS in Jerez following a seventh place finish in Race 2. In addition to securing the rookie title, Leclerc also reached the vice-championship title in the overall championship

Starting in 2015, Leclerc moved up to Formula 3 racing with the Dutch team Van Amersfoot Racing. Leclerc competed at the FIA Formula 3 European Championship with multiple victories and finished second at the Macau Grand Prix in November 2015

In February 2016, Charles LeClerc started racing with ART Grand Prix with a commitment for the 2016 GP3 season. Three wins and one title were claimed in the first year.

In November 2016, plans for the 2017 season were made with Charles Leclerc moving up to Formula 2 racing as part of the Prema Racing team

Three days after the death of his father, Herve LeClerc, Charles secured the Formula 2 pole position for the feature race in Azerbaijan. In an interview at the time, LeClerc said he would strive to obtain a good result for his father and make him proud, “to thank him for everything he did for me.”

Back in Jerez, Charles Leclerc once again achieved big goals by securing the 2017 FIA Formula 2 title in a feature race. The race was dramatic with leads of different time periods before a dramatic win by 0.2 seconds. With this win, Leclerc took the record of the youngest champion of the main support series for Formula 1. At age 19, 356 days, the future was already bright for Leclerc.

In 2018, Charles Leclerc would graduate to Formula 1 racing. A December 2017 announcement confirmed Leclerc’s plans to race rae for the Sauber F1 team for the 2018 Formula 1 World Championship. In a season peppered with seven place finished and retirements due to technical issues, Leclerc still finished 13th in the overall championship with 39 points.

For the 2019 season, Charles Leclerc competed on the Scuderia Ferrari team. A subsequent update indicated the contract would be for a minimum of four seasons, or until 2022. 

After a fifth place finish at the Australian Grand Prix, Leclerc qualified for the pole position at Bahrain, becoming the youngest Ferrari pole-sitter. While he held the lead for a lengthy time period, Leclerc ultimately came in third – his first podium finish in Formula 1.

At the Belgian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc secured his first Grand Prix win in early September. One week later, he secured the first Ferrari win in nine years at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Leclerc’s 2019 season ended with him in fourth place in the championship following 10 podium finishes and two wins.

An early contract extension with Ferrari secured Charles Leclerc’s position on the team through 2024. In the 2020 season, Leclerc finished the championship in eighth place with 98 points. In 2021, Leclerc finished seventh in the driver’s standings.

At the Bahrain Grand Prix in March 2022, Charles Leclerc bested Max Verstappen and led Ferrari to the lead in the Drivers’ and Constructer’s Championship. This marked Leclerc’s first lead in the Formula One World Championship. He later achieved second place at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and first in the Australian Grand Prix. The season is ongoing.