Charles Leclerc (French pronunciation: [ʃaʁl ləklɛʁ]; born 16 October 1997) is a Monégasque racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for Ferrari. Leclerc won the GP3 Series championship in 2016 and the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2017.[1][2]
Leclerc made his Formula One debut in 2018 for Sauber, a team affiliated with Ferrari, for which he was part of Ferrari Driver Academy. With Sauber having finished last the year before, Leclerc led the charge to improve the finishing position in the constructors' championship to eighth, being the highest ranked of the two Sauber drivers.[3] Leclerc agreed on a contract with Ferrari for the 2019 season where he is driving alongside Sebastian Vettel. Leclerc became the second-youngest driver to qualify on pole position in Formula One during his first Ferrari season in Bahrain. The 2019 season also saw Leclerc take his first career win in Belgium.
Early career
2005–2013: Karting
Leclerc began his karting career in 2005, winning the French PACA Championship in 2005, 2006 and 2008.[4] In 2009 he became French Cadet champion before moving up to the KF3 class in 2010, where he won the Junior Monaco Kart Cup.[5] He continued in the KF3 class for 2011, winning the CIK-FIA KF3 World Cup, the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy and the ERDF Junior Kart Masters.[6] During the year, Leclerc also became a member of Nicolas Todt's All Road Management company.[7]
Leclerc graduated to the KF2 category in 2012 with the factory-backed ART Grand Prix team, winning the WSK Euro Series title,[8] as well as finishing runner-up in the CIK-FIA European KF2 Championship and the CIK-FIA Under 18 World Karting Championship.[9] In his final year of karting in 2013, Leclerc claimed sixth position in the CIK-FIA European KZ Championship and finished second in the CIK-FIA World KZ Championship, behind current Red Bull Formula One driver Max Verstappen.[10]
2014–2015: Formula Renault, Formula Three and GP3
In 2014 following a crash at the Japanese Grand Prix Charles lost his lifelong friend and godfather Jules Bianchi. In 2014, Leclerc graduated to single-seaters, racing in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps championship for British team Fortec Motorsports.[11] During the season, he took seven podium positions, including a double victory at Monza,[12] to finish runner-up in the championship behind Koiranen GP's Nyck de Vries.[13] Leclerc also won the Junior Championship title at the final race of the season in Jerez, finishing ahead of Russian teenager Matevos Isaakyan.[14]
Leclerc also took part in a partial Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season with Fortec as a guest driver. In the six races he contested he finished on the podium three times, taking a second place at the Nürburgring followed by a pair of second-place finishes at the Hungaroring.[15]
Leclerc graduated to Formula Three in 2015, racing in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship with Dutch team Van Amersfoort Racing.[16] At the opening round of the season in Silverstone, Leclerc inherited pole position for the second and third races of the weekend after original pole-sitter Felix Rosenqvist was excluded for a technical infringement.[17] He went on to take his first race victory in the third race of the weekend, ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi and Jake Dennis.[18] He took his second victory at the following round in Hockenheim, winning the third race as well as taking two additional podiums and three rookie victories over the course of the event.[19] Leclerc scored his third win in the first race at Spa-Francorchamps which saw him take the lead in the championship. However, Leclerc finished fourth in the standings, mostly due to damage sustained to his car's chassis following a collision with Lance Stroll at Zandvoort.
In November 2015, Leclerc finished second at the Macau Grand Prix.
In December 2015, Leclerc partook in post-season testing with ART Grand Prix and Arden International. In February 2016, de Vries confirmed that Leclerc would race in the 2016 season.[20] ART signed Leclerc the following week. With the team, he claimed three victories and took the title in Abu Dhabi, despite crashing out in the feature race.
2017 season: FIA Formula 2 Championship
The week following his victory in the GP3 title race, Charles Leclerc was confirmed to be graduating to the Formula 2 series for the 2017 season with Prema Racing, alongside fellow GP3 racer and Ferrari junior Antonio Fuoco.[21]
He made his debut at Bahrain, where he took pole position for the feature race, but only finished third.[22] In the sprint race, his Prema team chose to take a mid-race pit stop, which is very uncommon in the shorter sprint races. He pushed harder on his medium Pirelli tyres, creating a nine second lead before pitting. This would drop him down to 14th place, but Leclerc overtook 13 cars and took victory by overtaking Luca Ghiotto on the final lap.[23] After taking pole position for the second time in a row, he then fought off Ghiotto to win again in the Catalunya feature race, despite a radio issue.[24][25]
Leclerc did not score any points at his home round at Monaco. He was on pole, but retired from the lead of the race with a suspension problem. The retirement also meant he would start the sprint race from the back of the grid, and in this race he collided with Norman Nato whilst trying to make his way up the grid, which ultimately resulted in both drivers retiring from the race. He retained the championship lead despite the bad weekend, which he described as 'hugely disappointing'.[26][27][28]
Leclerc took a fourth consecutive pole at a race Azerbaijan, which he dedicated to his late father, Herve.[29] He converted this into another win, although the race was red flagged five laps before the scheduled end.[30] In the sprint race, he started from eighth, and dropped to tenth early on, but fought back to sixth. The retirement of the race leader, his title rival Oliver Rowland, and De Vries, who was also ahead of Leclerc, meant Leclerc improved to fourth. He then passed Nicholas Latifi and Jordan King, and began to close on the new leader, Nato. He passed Nato, but had been given a 10-second penalty for failing to slow for yellow flags, and therefore finished second.[31]
In Austria he took his fifth pole position, and then won the feature race from pole despite coming under pressure from teammate Fuoco, and towards the end, the DAMS of Latifi.[32][33] He would retire from the sprint race after colliding with Fuoco and spinning out.[34] By taking pole for the sixth time for the next race, at Silverstone, he matched the record for most pole positions in a row, which was set by Stoffel Vandoorne in 2014 and 2015, when the series were called GP2 Series. He won the feature race, even after his car set alight during the race, and even after one of his wing mirrors detached in the closing stages.[35]
He would not start from pole in Hungary, despite taking his seventh successive pole position, as he was disqualified for a technical infringement. Despite starting from the back, he was in 12th position by turn 1. Using an alternative tyre strategy that saw him start on the medium tyres, Leclerc was stuck behind Alexander Albon, who was on the same strategy, although he eventually got past and would finish fourth. He would also finish fourth in the sprint race the next day, giving him a 50-point championship lead over Rowland.[36][37][38]
For the Belgian rounds, Leclerc again took pole and won the race by a convincing margin of over 20 seconds, however his win was disqualified as one of his skidblocks was excessively worn. Having to start in 19th place, Leclerc managed to go back up to 5th place and finish 3.8 seconds behind the race winner, Sérgio Sette Câmara.
For the Italian feature race, Leclerc was battling for the lead however on the final lap, he was involved in an accident with De Vries. After starting towards the back of the grid for the second consecutive sprint race, Leclerc managed to fight his way back to 9th position, albeit out of the points.
With a 57-point margin over Rowland heading into the penultimate rounds at Jerez, Leclerc gained his 8th pole position of the season, with both of his timed laps being good enough for pole position. In the feature race, Leclerc dominated most of the early stint on soft tyres and was able to overtake most of the runners on the alternate strategy. With 7 laps to go however, Nobuharu Matsushita collided with Santino Ferrucci, which brought out the safety car. At the point that the race resumed, Leclerc was misinformed over team radio that it was the "last lap" even though there were four laps to go,[39] so after pushing hard to build a gap Leclerc's tyres were "overheated badly"[39] with several laps still to run, yet despite his tyres being "completely gone" by the end Leclerc managed to hold off a charging Rowland by 0.23 seconds,[40] and claim the FIA Formula 2 championship in his rookie season in the main F1 feeder series.
In claiming the championship, Leclerc became the youngest ever champion of the main support series for Formula 1 at 19 years 356 days old, and the first driver since Nico Hülkenberg in 2009 to win the championship in their rookie season (a feat which only Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton have previously accomplished) and is the only driver to claim a championship with the Dallara GP2/11 chassis in their rookie season.
For the sprint race, Leclerc started in 8th place, however due to his car's aggressive setup, he and his teammate, Antonio Fuoco, had to pit in the sprint race. Due to the aggressive pace of Leclerc however, he rose up through the field, yet because of the excessive wear on his tyres, he conceded 3 positions on the final lap and finished in 7th position.
For the final rounds at Abu Dhabi, Leclerc qualified in 6th place for the Feature race, his lowest starting position all season barring penalties. Despite this however, he managed to finish the highest of the alternate strategy runners in Abu Dhabi (Soft then Super Soft) in 4th place (he had made it up till 3rd until the final corner of the final lap where he was pipped by Antonio Fuoco). This position however was subsequently changed to second after the race winner, Oliver Rowland, and Fuoco were disqualified for excessive floor wear and under-inflated front tyres respectively.
For Leclerc's final race, he started in 7th position. He was initially able to make up 2 places but was running slower than the race leaders Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi. As the race progressed however, Leclerc started gaining time compared to his rivals and managed to take Latifi with a few laps to go. For the final three laps, DRS was disabled and yellow flags in the final sector meant that Leclerc was stuck behind Albon, however on the final lap, both drivers tangled, triggered by Leclerc nudging Albon, and both had a drag race which they constantly were pushing each other until Leclerc finally took the lead and won by 1.293 seconds his final victory in his last ever F2 race.
2019 season
On 11 September 2018, Scuderia Ferrari announced the hiring of Leclerc for the 2019 season, replacing Kimi Räikkönen, who moved to Alfa Romeo.[47][48] While initially only announced for 2019, a few days later, then-Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene indicated that Leclerc's contract was going to be four seasons long, running "at least until 2022".[49] Leclerc made his first test day as an official Ferrari race driver on 28 November 2018 in Abu Dhabi.[50]
In his first Grand Prix driving for Ferrari, he started and finished in fifth position at the Australian Grand Prix. In his second qualifying for Ferrari, at the Bahrain Grand Prix, he qualified on pole position for the first time in his F1 career, having the fastest times in 2 of the 3 practice sessions and in all of the qualifying sessions in the race, setting a new track record, and becoming the youngest driver to score a pole position for Ferrari.[51] Leclerc led for the majority of the race, but lost the lead and was overtaken by Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas due to his engine dropping a cylinder with a failed fuel injector. He finished 3rd after the Renaults of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hülkenberg both retired on Lap 54 of the race, which caused the deployment of the safety car and prevented Verstappen from overtaking Leclerc, leading to the first podium of his F1 career.[52]
In China, Leclerc qualified 4th behind Vettel. After overtaking his teammate during the start, he was asked to yield and let Vettel pass. He eventually finished the Chinese Grand Prix in 5th.[53] In Azerbaijan, he was the favourite for pole position until a crash in the second qualifying session ended his contention. He started 8th after penalties for the two Alfa Romeos and finished the race 5th with an extra point for the fastest lap of the race.[54] At the following race in Monaco, he qualified 16th, as part of Ferrari's erroneous strategy that kept him in the garage to save tyres, underestimating track evolution at the end of the qualifying session. He was however promoted to 15th following Antonio Giovinazzi's grid penalty. He overtook Lando Norris and Romain Grosjean but suffered a puncture after a failed attempt to pass the Renault of Nico Hülkenberg. He also suffered severe floor damage to his car, leading to his second retirement at his home race. Leclerc qualified 3rd in Canada, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the Renault and behind Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes. He would finish in the same position, his second podium finish of the season and of his career, behind the controversial 1-2 finish of Hamilton and teammate Sebastian Vettel. He would finish third again in France, having caught up to second-placed Bottas in the closing laps. At the Austrian Grand Prix, he qualified on pole position, the second pole of his Formula 1 career. He subsequently finished second after colliding with Red Bull's Max Verstappen, having led for the major part of the race.[55] The incident was investigated by the stewards after the race, who called it 'a racing incident' and decided against taking action as neither of them was, wholly or predominantly, to blame for the incident. [56]
In the British Grand Prix, he qualified P3 ahead of Max Verstappen.[57] He eventually finished the race P3 and was also voted 'Driver of the day' for defending his position against numerous attacks by Verstappen during the early stages of the race. [58] This was his fourth consecutive podium finish of the season. [59] In the German Grand Prix, he qualified P10, despite having finished in the top two in all the three Free Practice (FP) sessions, after an issue with the fuel system prevented him from setting a lap time in the final qualifying session (Q3). [60] In what turned out to be a sensational rain-hit race, he started brilliantly, gradually making his way to P4 during the early part of the race. A questionable tactic by his team's strategists, of installing soft tyres even though the track was still wet, culminated in him losing control and crashing into the barriers on lap 29, leading to his second DNF of the season.[61]
In Hungary he suffered a rear-end crash in Qualifying but ended up still being able to finish it. He then went on to start and finish fourth.
The next race, the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix, saw Leclerc take his 3rd pole of the season, alongside teammate Sebastian Vettel in second – the second Ferrari front row lockout of the season after Bahrain. At the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix, Leclerc fended off the charging Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton to record his maiden Grand Prix win with Ferrari in his first season with the team, making him the youngest ever winner for Scuderia Ferrari. After the race had finished, the Monegasque dedicated his maiden victory to his long time friend, Anthoine Hubert. Anthoine had tragically lost his life the day prior, in a mid race accident on the same circuit, driving in F2. Anthoine and Charles had long been friends, taking part in the same karting race together in 2005, which kickstarted both of the young drivers' incredible careers. Leclerc's maiden win for the Scuderia puts an end to the team's victory drought, which had stretched from the end of the US Grand Prix of the year before, lasting a total of 15 Grands Prix.
His victory in Belgium also marks the first time a Monaco native has won a Formula One Grand Prix, which gives the young driver his 3rd "first" in the sport, being the first Monegasque driver to qualify on pole, set a fastest lap, and win a Grand Prix. In only a season and a half in the pinnacle of motorsport, he has already established himself as the most successful Monegasque in the history of the sport.
And due to his immense pace this season, in a not-so-competitive Ferrari, many big names in the sport have recognised him as one of the big talents of the future, among the likes of Max Verstappen and George Russell, with many going as far as to say he could very well be the next World Drivers Champion.
Leclerc made his Formula One debut in 2018 for Sauber, a team affiliated with Ferrari, for which he was part of Ferrari Driver Academy. With Sauber having finished last the year before, Leclerc led the charge to improve the finishing position in the constructors' championship to eighth, being the highest ranked of the two Sauber drivers.[3] Leclerc agreed on a contract with Ferrari for the 2019 season where he is driving alongside Sebastian Vettel. Leclerc became the second-youngest driver to qualify on pole position in Formula One during his first Ferrari season in Bahrain. The 2019 season also saw Leclerc take his first career win in Belgium.
Early career
2005–2013: Karting
Leclerc began his karting career in 2005, winning the French PACA Championship in 2005, 2006 and 2008.[4] In 2009 he became French Cadet champion before moving up to the KF3 class in 2010, where he won the Junior Monaco Kart Cup.[5] He continued in the KF3 class for 2011, winning the CIK-FIA KF3 World Cup, the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy and the ERDF Junior Kart Masters.[6] During the year, Leclerc also became a member of Nicolas Todt's All Road Management company.[7]
Leclerc graduated to the KF2 category in 2012 with the factory-backed ART Grand Prix team, winning the WSK Euro Series title,[8] as well as finishing runner-up in the CIK-FIA European KF2 Championship and the CIK-FIA Under 18 World Karting Championship.[9] In his final year of karting in 2013, Leclerc claimed sixth position in the CIK-FIA European KZ Championship and finished second in the CIK-FIA World KZ Championship, behind current Red Bull Formula One driver Max Verstappen.[10]
2014–2015: Formula Renault, Formula Three and GP3
In 2014 following a crash at the Japanese Grand Prix Charles lost his lifelong friend and godfather Jules Bianchi. In 2014, Leclerc graduated to single-seaters, racing in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps championship for British team Fortec Motorsports.[11] During the season, he took seven podium positions, including a double victory at Monza,[12] to finish runner-up in the championship behind Koiranen GP's Nyck de Vries.[13] Leclerc also won the Junior Championship title at the final race of the season in Jerez, finishing ahead of Russian teenager Matevos Isaakyan.[14]
Leclerc also took part in a partial Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season with Fortec as a guest driver. In the six races he contested he finished on the podium three times, taking a second place at the Nürburgring followed by a pair of second-place finishes at the Hungaroring.[15]
Leclerc graduated to Formula Three in 2015, racing in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship with Dutch team Van Amersfoort Racing.[16] At the opening round of the season in Silverstone, Leclerc inherited pole position for the second and third races of the weekend after original pole-sitter Felix Rosenqvist was excluded for a technical infringement.[17] He went on to take his first race victory in the third race of the weekend, ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi and Jake Dennis.[18] He took his second victory at the following round in Hockenheim, winning the third race as well as taking two additional podiums and three rookie victories over the course of the event.[19] Leclerc scored his third win in the first race at Spa-Francorchamps which saw him take the lead in the championship. However, Leclerc finished fourth in the standings, mostly due to damage sustained to his car's chassis following a collision with Lance Stroll at Zandvoort.
In November 2015, Leclerc finished second at the Macau Grand Prix.
In December 2015, Leclerc partook in post-season testing with ART Grand Prix and Arden International. In February 2016, de Vries confirmed that Leclerc would race in the 2016 season.[20] ART signed Leclerc the following week. With the team, he claimed three victories and took the title in Abu Dhabi, despite crashing out in the feature race.
2017 season: FIA Formula 2 Championship
The week following his victory in the GP3 title race, Charles Leclerc was confirmed to be graduating to the Formula 2 series for the 2017 season with Prema Racing, alongside fellow GP3 racer and Ferrari junior Antonio Fuoco.[21]
He made his debut at Bahrain, where he took pole position for the feature race, but only finished third.[22] In the sprint race, his Prema team chose to take a mid-race pit stop, which is very uncommon in the shorter sprint races. He pushed harder on his medium Pirelli tyres, creating a nine second lead before pitting. This would drop him down to 14th place, but Leclerc overtook 13 cars and took victory by overtaking Luca Ghiotto on the final lap.[23] After taking pole position for the second time in a row, he then fought off Ghiotto to win again in the Catalunya feature race, despite a radio issue.[24][25]
Leclerc did not score any points at his home round at Monaco. He was on pole, but retired from the lead of the race with a suspension problem. The retirement also meant he would start the sprint race from the back of the grid, and in this race he collided with Norman Nato whilst trying to make his way up the grid, which ultimately resulted in both drivers retiring from the race. He retained the championship lead despite the bad weekend, which he described as 'hugely disappointing'.[26][27][28]
Leclerc took a fourth consecutive pole at a race Azerbaijan, which he dedicated to his late father, Herve.[29] He converted this into another win, although the race was red flagged five laps before the scheduled end.[30] In the sprint race, he started from eighth, and dropped to tenth early on, but fought back to sixth. The retirement of the race leader, his title rival Oliver Rowland, and De Vries, who was also ahead of Leclerc, meant Leclerc improved to fourth. He then passed Nicholas Latifi and Jordan King, and began to close on the new leader, Nato. He passed Nato, but had been given a 10-second penalty for failing to slow for yellow flags, and therefore finished second.[31]
In Austria he took his fifth pole position, and then won the feature race from pole despite coming under pressure from teammate Fuoco, and towards the end, the DAMS of Latifi.[32][33] He would retire from the sprint race after colliding with Fuoco and spinning out.[34] By taking pole for the sixth time for the next race, at Silverstone, he matched the record for most pole positions in a row, which was set by Stoffel Vandoorne in 2014 and 2015, when the series were called GP2 Series. He won the feature race, even after his car set alight during the race, and even after one of his wing mirrors detached in the closing stages.[35]
He would not start from pole in Hungary, despite taking his seventh successive pole position, as he was disqualified for a technical infringement. Despite starting from the back, he was in 12th position by turn 1. Using an alternative tyre strategy that saw him start on the medium tyres, Leclerc was stuck behind Alexander Albon, who was on the same strategy, although he eventually got past and would finish fourth. He would also finish fourth in the sprint race the next day, giving him a 50-point championship lead over Rowland.[36][37][38]
For the Belgian rounds, Leclerc again took pole and won the race by a convincing margin of over 20 seconds, however his win was disqualified as one of his skidblocks was excessively worn. Having to start in 19th place, Leclerc managed to go back up to 5th place and finish 3.8 seconds behind the race winner, Sérgio Sette Câmara.
For the Italian feature race, Leclerc was battling for the lead however on the final lap, he was involved in an accident with De Vries. After starting towards the back of the grid for the second consecutive sprint race, Leclerc managed to fight his way back to 9th position, albeit out of the points.
With a 57-point margin over Rowland heading into the penultimate rounds at Jerez, Leclerc gained his 8th pole position of the season, with both of his timed laps being good enough for pole position. In the feature race, Leclerc dominated most of the early stint on soft tyres and was able to overtake most of the runners on the alternate strategy. With 7 laps to go however, Nobuharu Matsushita collided with Santino Ferrucci, which brought out the safety car. At the point that the race resumed, Leclerc was misinformed over team radio that it was the "last lap" even though there were four laps to go,[39] so after pushing hard to build a gap Leclerc's tyres were "overheated badly"[39] with several laps still to run, yet despite his tyres being "completely gone" by the end Leclerc managed to hold off a charging Rowland by 0.23 seconds,[40] and claim the FIA Formula 2 championship in his rookie season in the main F1 feeder series.
In claiming the championship, Leclerc became the youngest ever champion of the main support series for Formula 1 at 19 years 356 days old, and the first driver since Nico Hülkenberg in 2009 to win the championship in their rookie season (a feat which only Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton have previously accomplished) and is the only driver to claim a championship with the Dallara GP2/11 chassis in their rookie season.
For the sprint race, Leclerc started in 8th place, however due to his car's aggressive setup, he and his teammate, Antonio Fuoco, had to pit in the sprint race. Due to the aggressive pace of Leclerc however, he rose up through the field, yet because of the excessive wear on his tyres, he conceded 3 positions on the final lap and finished in 7th position.
For the final rounds at Abu Dhabi, Leclerc qualified in 6th place for the Feature race, his lowest starting position all season barring penalties. Despite this however, he managed to finish the highest of the alternate strategy runners in Abu Dhabi (Soft then Super Soft) in 4th place (he had made it up till 3rd until the final corner of the final lap where he was pipped by Antonio Fuoco). This position however was subsequently changed to second after the race winner, Oliver Rowland, and Fuoco were disqualified for excessive floor wear and under-inflated front tyres respectively.
For Leclerc's final race, he started in 7th position. He was initially able to make up 2 places but was running slower than the race leaders Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi. As the race progressed however, Leclerc started gaining time compared to his rivals and managed to take Latifi with a few laps to go. For the final three laps, DRS was disabled and yellow flags in the final sector meant that Leclerc was stuck behind Albon, however on the final lap, both drivers tangled, triggered by Leclerc nudging Albon, and both had a drag race which they constantly were pushing each other until Leclerc finally took the lead and won by 1.293 seconds his final victory in his last ever F2 race.
2019 season
On 11 September 2018, Scuderia Ferrari announced the hiring of Leclerc for the 2019 season, replacing Kimi Räikkönen, who moved to Alfa Romeo.[47][48] While initially only announced for 2019, a few days later, then-Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene indicated that Leclerc's contract was going to be four seasons long, running "at least until 2022".[49] Leclerc made his first test day as an official Ferrari race driver on 28 November 2018 in Abu Dhabi.[50]
In his first Grand Prix driving for Ferrari, he started and finished in fifth position at the Australian Grand Prix. In his second qualifying for Ferrari, at the Bahrain Grand Prix, he qualified on pole position for the first time in his F1 career, having the fastest times in 2 of the 3 practice sessions and in all of the qualifying sessions in the race, setting a new track record, and becoming the youngest driver to score a pole position for Ferrari.[51] Leclerc led for the majority of the race, but lost the lead and was overtaken by Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas due to his engine dropping a cylinder with a failed fuel injector. He finished 3rd after the Renaults of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hülkenberg both retired on Lap 54 of the race, which caused the deployment of the safety car and prevented Verstappen from overtaking Leclerc, leading to the first podium of his F1 career.[52]
In China, Leclerc qualified 4th behind Vettel. After overtaking his teammate during the start, he was asked to yield and let Vettel pass. He eventually finished the Chinese Grand Prix in 5th.[53] In Azerbaijan, he was the favourite for pole position until a crash in the second qualifying session ended his contention. He started 8th after penalties for the two Alfa Romeos and finished the race 5th with an extra point for the fastest lap of the race.[54] At the following race in Monaco, he qualified 16th, as part of Ferrari's erroneous strategy that kept him in the garage to save tyres, underestimating track evolution at the end of the qualifying session. He was however promoted to 15th following Antonio Giovinazzi's grid penalty. He overtook Lando Norris and Romain Grosjean but suffered a puncture after a failed attempt to pass the Renault of Nico Hülkenberg. He also suffered severe floor damage to his car, leading to his second retirement at his home race. Leclerc qualified 3rd in Canada, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the Renault and behind Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes. He would finish in the same position, his second podium finish of the season and of his career, behind the controversial 1-2 finish of Hamilton and teammate Sebastian Vettel. He would finish third again in France, having caught up to second-placed Bottas in the closing laps. At the Austrian Grand Prix, he qualified on pole position, the second pole of his Formula 1 career. He subsequently finished second after colliding with Red Bull's Max Verstappen, having led for the major part of the race.[55] The incident was investigated by the stewards after the race, who called it 'a racing incident' and decided against taking action as neither of them was, wholly or predominantly, to blame for the incident. [56]
In the British Grand Prix, he qualified P3 ahead of Max Verstappen.[57] He eventually finished the race P3 and was also voted 'Driver of the day' for defending his position against numerous attacks by Verstappen during the early stages of the race. [58] This was his fourth consecutive podium finish of the season. [59] In the German Grand Prix, he qualified P10, despite having finished in the top two in all the three Free Practice (FP) sessions, after an issue with the fuel system prevented him from setting a lap time in the final qualifying session (Q3). [60] In what turned out to be a sensational rain-hit race, he started brilliantly, gradually making his way to P4 during the early part of the race. A questionable tactic by his team's strategists, of installing soft tyres even though the track was still wet, culminated in him losing control and crashing into the barriers on lap 29, leading to his second DNF of the season.[61]
In Hungary he suffered a rear-end crash in Qualifying but ended up still being able to finish it. He then went on to start and finish fourth.
The next race, the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix, saw Leclerc take his 3rd pole of the season, alongside teammate Sebastian Vettel in second – the second Ferrari front row lockout of the season after Bahrain. At the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix, Leclerc fended off the charging Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton to record his maiden Grand Prix win with Ferrari in his first season with the team, making him the youngest ever winner for Scuderia Ferrari. After the race had finished, the Monegasque dedicated his maiden victory to his long time friend, Anthoine Hubert. Anthoine had tragically lost his life the day prior, in a mid race accident on the same circuit, driving in F2. Anthoine and Charles had long been friends, taking part in the same karting race together in 2005, which kickstarted both of the young drivers' incredible careers. Leclerc's maiden win for the Scuderia puts an end to the team's victory drought, which had stretched from the end of the US Grand Prix of the year before, lasting a total of 15 Grands Prix.
His victory in Belgium also marks the first time a Monaco native has won a Formula One Grand Prix, which gives the young driver his 3rd "first" in the sport, being the first Monegasque driver to qualify on pole, set a fastest lap, and win a Grand Prix. In only a season and a half in the pinnacle of motorsport, he has already established himself as the most successful Monegasque in the history of the sport.
And due to his immense pace this season, in a not-so-competitive Ferrari, many big names in the sport have recognised him as one of the big talents of the future, among the likes of Max Verstappen and George Russell, with many going as far as to say he could very well be the next World Drivers Champion.
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