The life goals and lessons of Charles Leclerc

Twenty-three minutes and 15 seconds past five in the afternoon on Sunday 26 May, 2024, in Monte Carlo, Monaco. That’s a moment that will live rent free in Charles Leclerc’s mind forever. The precise moment when the Monaco-born Ferrari driver finally took the chequered flag in his home grand prix. A moment that had been 93 years in the making, with Leclerc becoming the second Formula 1 driver to win at home after fellow countryman Louis Chiron won in 1931.

“Actually, officially, I am the first,” interrupts the 26-year-old, smiling back in the brightly lit mirror of the studio dressing room, a stone’s throw from Ferrari HQ in Maranello, Italy. “It wasn’t actually Formula 1 back then,” he rightly points out, winking. Full points to Leclerc – the man certainly knows his history.

The Ferrari driver is as cool and collected as every one of his Netflix appearances would have you believe. Casually dressed in a black oversized T-shirt and loose-fitting jeans, the dashing driver is unfussed by the hubbub surrounding him, as stylists and publicists hurriedly prod, poke and prep him ahead of the shoot.

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It’s a hot day in Maranello. Red hot. And not just because of the heat – metaphorical and otherwise – generated by the new Ferrari 12Cilindri ticking away as it cools down in the next-door room. It’s finished in Ferrari’s classic shade of rosso-corsa red, naturally, and Leclerc can’t help but rev its V12 to the max.

The noise ricochets around the room and he’s giggling like a boy behind the wheel of a fast car for the first time. He’s relaxed despite his jam-packed schedule of media appearances, motivational speeches and the fact that, in just a few days’ time, he’ll be back in the hotseat, ripping around a racetrack outside Budapest at 190mph.

Ferrari 12Cilindri, ferrari.com

“I still have those pinch-yourself moments,” he admits, stepping out of the car and back into the spotlight. “When you’ve got two or three races in a row that are so bad, you can hate your life. And in those moments, I’m always remembering and reminding myself how lucky I am to be doing what I do.”

But there was once a slim chance that Leclerc wouldn’t be living out his dream right now. In fact, if he’d had done what he was told and gone to school one day in the early 2000s, it’s anyone’s guess how his life would have panned out. Lucky for us, he didn’t.

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“I lied to my father that I [felt unwell]. I told him I was ill, but that wasn’t true, I just didn’t want to go to school and he believed me, so he had to keep me with him,” he confesses, all these years later.

“By coincidence, he had to go to see his best friend, Philippe Bianchi, who was managing a karting track at the time, an hour and a half outside Monaco and I went with him.”

When Leclerc arrived, he found a kart that had already been set up for a similar-aged child, and hopped on and gave it a go. “From that moment onwards, that’s it, it was clear I wanted to do that,” he says.

Fast forward a few years and soon the silverware started to flood in. We’re talking the youngest French Championship karting winner by 2009, GP3 champion by 2016, Formula 2 champion the following year and a seat in Formula 1 by 2018. Oh, and he taught himself to play the piano during the pandemic, but more on that later.

In short, Leclerc isn’t like many of his more robotic racing peers – there’s a strong and shining personality behind the helmet, not to mention a dogged determination to defeat every one of his rivals on track and achieve his four goals.

They are, as he instantly reels off: “to get to Formula 1 – that was the first. The second was to be a Ferrari driver one day, and the third was to win the Monaco Grand Prix. These three have been done,” he notes. But the last one is by far the most important: “to become world champion and on this, I’m still working.”

But let’s not gloss over the last milestone he passed. Goal number three. That win in Monaco – a victory Leclerc happily refers to as, “the most special moment of my entire career,” and the only time he’s been overcome with emotion before crossing the line. “To win in Monaco – my home country – on the roads that I took the bus to school on every morning when I was a kid, and seeing everybody that really matters to me around the track – all my childhood friends, all my teachers and all my family – it was extremely special. While it only awards 25 points, just like every other win, emotionally speaking, it was everything.”

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Although winning is the only line in the job description of a Formula 1 driver, something they’re paid handsomely to do – and our man is no exception to that – this one was different for Leclerc.

It was about far more than picking up championship points. It was the penultimate chapter in a story about tragic loss, recovery, resilience and retribution.

“My father did absolutely everything and showed me all the steps that I had to take in order to get to Formula 1,” he remembers fondly. “He was so passionate and he obviously wanted the best for me, and as soon as he saw that I liked it, which was his priority, then he made sure that he was giving me the right advice to succeed in this sport.” Beyond his father, Leclerc cites legendary racer Ayrton Senna as an inspiration, and also his late godfather and fellow racer Jules Bianchi. “He was actually the son of my father’s best friend who was managing the karting track on that day I first tried it,” explains Leclerc. “He helped me in my career until, unfortunately, his accident in 2014 in Japan.”

Despite his age, Ferrari’s front man has been forced to deal with the loss of two of his closest allies during his lifetime. Ten years ago, Leclerc’s godfather, Jules Bianchi, died from the injuries he sustained when his car hit a recovery vehicle during a wash-out Japanese Grand Prix. Not long after that, Leclerc’s father, Hervé, passed away from an illness in 2017, just days before Leclerc went on to triumph in the Baku Formula 2 race ahead of winning the championship later that year.

“The people I’ve lost were the ones that wanted the best for me, and whenever I asked myself the question ‘what will they want me to do?’ the answer came up pretty quickly that my father would just want me to put the helmet on and go win races,” he says candidly.

“You can get ready mentally for many things, especially in my professional life, like how to be focused and relaxed in intense situations,” he explains – he has trained mentally for such scenarios since he was young. “But nothing really prepares you for a very difficult personal moment that you need to go through.”

Shortly before his father passed away, Leclerc lied and told him he’d secured a seat in Formula 1. “I knew how much it meant for us and we had done all the journey together. It was very difficult for me to accept that he would go before I actually signed my first F1 contract.”

It would be just a matter of months before Leclerc’s well-meaning fiction became fact, when a contract landed from the Ferrari-affiliated Sauber F1 Team ahead of the 2018 season.

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“I was really angry with myself for lying to him at first, but, then, luckily, I signed the actual contract right after he left. I was realising my dream, but I was also very happy to not have lied to him at the end of the day.”

For Leclerc, the dream would become even more lucid when a call came in shortly after that from the former Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene. “The first thing he told me was: ‘Oh, Charles, we are sorry, but we won’t take you for the Ferrari seat.’

“I was very sad, but I kind of expected it because it was so early in my career. Then, there was a 15-second pause before he said, ‘I’m just joking. You are part of the team next year.’

“That was such a crazy feeling. I was with all my friends and also Netflix, so I couldn’t show my emotions on the call because I couldn’t announce it yet.

“I don’t think they ever used that scene because they never knew what was really happening on that call,” he chuckles. For those keeping count, this was the moment the newly minted Ferrari driver kicked another life goal into touch.

Which, of course, leaves just one more – the not-so-insignificant matter of winning his first Formula 1 world championship title. A task the Monegasque driver is more focused on than ever before, particularly as he’s now faced with a rather robust roadblock in the shape of Lewis Hamilton, his new teammate come 2025.

“It’s going to be incredible to have Lewis on the team and, obviously, to be able to have such an incredible champion in the same team as me, with the same car,” says Leclerc, looking a little flushed and flustered for the first time.

Maybe it’s the unrelenting heat, who knows, but if there’s one person with the ability to rub a racing driver up the wrong way, it’s their teammates. Added to that, if there’s any driver in history whose remarkable record has the power to undermine anyone’s achievements, it’s Sir Lewis – packing no fewer than seven world championship titles and 104 wins at the time of writing.

“First, it’s going to be a great opportunity to learn from one of the best ever,” says Leclerc. “And second, I think it is going to be an amazing opportunity, also, for me to be able to show what I’m capable of, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

For all his enthusiasm about Ferrari’s new hire, Leclerc will be squaring up to a man widely regarded as the GOAT of motorsport, come March next year. A seasoned veteran of the sport, who won his first world championship when Leclerc was just 11 years old.

“By being on karting tracks every weekend growing up, it was difficult for me to actually follow a Formula 1 season, so I used to watch some races and he was definitely one of the guys that I looked up to,” admits Leclerc.

“In the first year [in F1], I remember being super-impressed and intimidated by all these amazing drivers, and Lewis is probably the best out there, so being able to race with him was crazy.”

Will Leclerc show mercy to the newbie as he gets to grips with his first new team in more than a decade? “No, of course not,” he says, clinically. “No, no, no – when I’m putting the helmet on, then there’s none of this any more. You change, you don’t think about who is who and you just go for it.

“Now I’m racing Lewis, so I’ve got to forget a little bit the names that are inside the paddock, and just focus on my own performance whenever I’m on track.”

In the immediate weeks and months, at least, there’s some work to do at Ferrari, and for Leclerc, too. After a strong start to the season, which peaked with his win in Monaco, his form has faltered. Despite holding on to his third place in the championship standings, he’s still a long way off catching the ever-dominant Max Verstappen.

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“For now, we are not yet where we want to be in terms of performance, but we are working really hard. I am confident that the future looks bright with the team and with the way we are working. But for sure, with the situation we’re in at the moment, I wish we had a winning car.”

So far, it’s safe to say Leclerc’s built up an enviable reputation in Formula 1, but also in the wider sporting arena. After accelerating through his younger years with characteristic pace, Monaco’s favourite son still has a long road ahead of him. Will he remain in the sport for years to come, much like his incoming teammate? He certainly hopes so, at least until he’s wrapped up his fourth life goal.

“My aim, together with Ferrari, is to become a Formula 1 world champion and that’s it. I only want it with Ferrari – so, for now, I’m only focused on that.”

For that, it looks like Leclerc will have to wait a little longer, but he’s okay with that. Considering he’s already patiently waited the best part of two decades to get the call-up to Formula 1 in the first place, then what’s a few more months or even years?

“I never expected to be where I am today. My father always reminded me of how difficult it will be and how unlikely it will be as well. Even if you are talented, you don’t only require talent to get to Formula 1,” he reasons.

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“There are lots of kids that are talented around the world, but you need a little bit of luck to find yourself in the right place at the right time and then have the people supporting you along the way.

“I had that luck of having Ferrari supporting me since very early on, and to have my manager also supporting me to get to where I am today.”

Until then, Leclerc will need to keep treading the tightrope of Formula 1, balancing talent and hard work with a hefty dose of luck and Machiavellian calculation. It’s the reality of working in the turbocharged, chaotic circus that is the fastest sport on earth. Decisions are made in an instant – you just need to make sure you’re on the right side of them.

Should he fall foul of the knife edge one day and disappear from the sport entirely, however, it’s unlikely we’ll have seen the last of Charles Leclerc. “I hope I’ll still be in Formula 1 doing what I love most, which is driving, but once this is done, I’ve always had a huge passion for architecture, music and fashion,” he says, casually.

Remember he taught himself the piano during the pandemic? Well, he’s already composing and releasing music under his own steam, all while touring the world as Ferrari Formula 1 team’s star. Impressive, but, then again, Leclerc doesn’t do anything slowly. An occupational hazard, you could say.

Despite all the charm, glitz and glamour, he’s certainly not averse to hard graft. “Talent is not enough – it needs to be complemented with hard work,” he says, recalling the best advice he’s received in life, from his late father, no less.

“In Formula 1, there are 19 other drivers who are incredibly talented, but what makes a difference at the end of the day is how much hard work you put in.”

Luckily for Leclerc, he’s not exactly lacking on either front.

This feature was taken from our Summer 2024 issue. Read more about it here.

Want more cover interviews? We spend some time with Anderson .Paak…

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