Charles
Leclerc

Charles Leclerc was born in Monte Carlo on 16 October 1997. His father, Hervé, was also a racing driver and competed in Formula Three in the 1980s. Leclerc came up through karting and won the junior World Cup in 2011. In 2014 he finished runner-up to Nyck de Vries in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series. In 2015 he took fourth place overall in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship and won the rookies' title. He won the GP3 Series with ART in 2016 and joined the Ferrari Driver Academy. In 2017 he won the inaugural FIA Formula 2 Championship with Prema as a rookie.

Leclerc made his Formula One debut with Sauber at the 2018 Australian Grand Prix, becoming the first Monégasque driver to take part in a Grand Prix since Olivier Beretta in 1994. A sixth place in Azerbaijan gave him the first points for a Monégasque driver since Louis Chiron in 1950. He ended the season thirteenth in the championship.

He moved to Ferrari in 2019, partnering Sebastian Vettel. In Bahrain he took his first pole position, becoming the second-youngest polesitter in Formula One history. He led much of the race before an engine problem cost him the lead, and he finished third for his first podium. In Belgium he won his first Grand Prix aged 21, as the third-youngest winner in the sport's history and the first from Monaco. He then won at Monza, becoming the first Ferrari winner there since Fernando Alonso in 2010. He finished fourth in the standings with two wins and seven pole positions. He stayed winless in 2020 and 2021, finishing eighth and seventh in the championship.

In 2022 Leclerc won in Bahrain, Australia and Austria, and finished runner-up to Max Verstappen in the championship. He took nine pole positions that year. In 2023 he was fifth in the standings with five poles. In 2024 he won the Monaco Grand Prix from pole position, the first Monégasque winner there since Chiron in 1931 and the first in the World Championship. He added wins at Monza and in the United States and finished third overall. In 2025 he raced alongside Lewis Hamilton, finishing fifth in the standings with seven podiums. In 2026 he won the British Grand Prix ahead of George Russell and Hamilton. Leclerc drives for Ferrari.

Source: Wikipedia, “Charles Leclerc”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.