Charles Leclerc has been a project of Ferrari for a long time. Starting his career in red across a legend like Sebastien Vettel, Leclerc has risen to the occasion more than once and proven himself worthy of being a part of Ferrari’s history. Now, the 27-year-old has become a legend in his own right after his iconic win at the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix.
With the race in Monaco, Leclerc went on to fulfil a dream more important than his own. The hometown win signified the manifestation of a vision that drove not only him but his late father, too. Known as a loving and caring figure in Charles Leclerc’s life, the latter finally found closure with the historic win in memory of his father in Monaco.
Charles Leclerc manifested his contract with Ferrari
When Charles Leclerc started his racing career with karting, two influential father figures worked tirelessly to make him into the icon he is today. One of them was Hervé Leclerc, his father, who tragically succumbed to a long illness in 2017, just 4 days before the young racer won the titular F2 Championship in Baku.
On his deathbed, Leclerc told a white lie to his father to make the latter’s final dream come true – that he had finally signed a Formula 1 contract with Ferrari. A month later, he signed with Sauber, and within a year, Leclerc was driving for Ferrari.
Speaking of the incident after his dream win in Monaco, Leclerc revealed on a podcast interview with Jay Shetty:
Formula 1 is really where you want to get once you start a racing career… but I had lied to him two days before he passed away and I told him, ‘I signed my Formula 1 contract.’ I knew it was a matter of days before he would pass away. I remember that night, I said it to my mum and my mum was pretty angry with me, telling me ‘you shouldn’t lie to your father’ – and that stayed in me for months.
At the same time, Charles Leclerc also contends with the fact that had his contract with Ferrari not materialized, he would have spent his whole life regretting lying to his father on his deathbed. Fortunately, his contract with Sauber a month after his father’s death gave him a sense of relief and closure.
He wasn’t here anymore [but] I found much more peace within myself because I told myself, ‘Okay, I didn’t lie to my father. I told him the truth, I anticipated things, everything is okay.’
As 2025 rolls along, Leclerc moves forward to break more records and create more history with Ferrari alongside the 7-time World Champion and Formula One icon, Sir Lewis Hamilton.
Charles Leclerc’s thorny path to the top
The young Monégasque driver has experienced enough loss in his life to make him a tragic hero. From losing his godfather Jules Bianchi in 2015 to losing his father four days before winning the 2017 F2 Championship to losing his best friend a day before his first F1 win in 2019, Leclerc’s racing years have been riddled with the deaths of three of the closest and most influential men in his life.
However, while he dedicates his wins to their memory and remembers their legacy even a decade down the line, no victory has been as iconic as his hometown race in 2024. For the first time in the history of Formula 1, a Monégasque had won the Monaco Grand Prix – a feat that turned Charles Leclerc into a legend overnight.
With tears in his eyes during the final few laps, Leclerc dedicated the win to his father who sacrificed a lot to support his dream of driving, watched over him throughout his nascent career until his death in 2017, and in Charles Leclerc’s own words, had dreamed of racing together one day.
The 2025 Grand Prix season will kick off on 16th March in Melbourne, Australia.
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