Charles Leclerc was solely 10 years outdated when Lewis Hamilton made his Formulation One debut for McLaren in 2007. And simply 11 when his soon-to-be Ferrari team-mate gained his maiden world title the next season; on the ultimate nook of the ultimate lap of the ultimate race.
You may suppose that historic second – the game’s first black driver, a generational expertise and hero to tens of millions of younger karters world wide, – would make an impression on a motorsport-mad boy rising up in Monaco, the playground of Formulation One’s elite. However you’d be incorrect.
“Really I feel I’m a little bit of an outlier within the paddock, as a result of I didn’t actually watch Formulation One rising up,” Leclerc confesses once I ask for his earliest reminiscences of the person he’ll .
“Each weekend I had free, I used to be with my father on a karting observe, and we’d simply drive. That’s what I beloved doing most. So really, I don’t have many reminiscences of watching F1 or Lewis in his first seasons.
“I do keep in mind a bit, the response to what occurred [at Interlagos]. Everybody being like ‘That was fully loopy!’ However you already know, you’re younger. Monday I used to be in school, and I by no means actually bought to see it once more. It’s very completely different to, I feel, each different driver within the paddock, in that I used to be simply so centered by myself factor and loved a lot what I used to be doing, I didn’t actually take an curiosity…”
‘The motivation for Hamilton at Ferrari will probably be loopy’
Protected to say Leclerc is taking a detailed curiosity in Hamilton now. Sitting in Ferrari’s paddock residence, surrounded by crimson shirts and hats to signal, Leclerc is properly conscious that the now seven-time-world champion is about to show his – and the workforce’s – life the other way up.
If he’s involved in regards to the affect might need, he’s enjoying it very cool. The Monegasque, who made historical past on Friday when he and youthful brother Arthur turned the primary brothers to take part in a follow session as team-mates, is for the second extra involved with the constructors’ championship battle this weekend in Abu Dhabi. Ferrari start the weekend simply 21 factors behind leaders McLaren and Leclerc believes “every thing is feasible”, though since talking he has been handed a 10-place grid penalty for a battery change, which significantly hurts the Scuderia’s probabilities.
No matter occurs this weekend, although, Leclerc accepts scrutiny on him goes to extend tenfold subsequent 12 months as soon as Hamilton decamps to Maranello.
Formulation One’s most profitable driver has endured a torrid last season at Mercedes and lots of imagine Ferrari are forking out £50 million a 12 months on a busted flush. Hamilton will probably be 40 by the point Melbourne rolls round subsequent March and – “I’m positively not quick any extra” in Qatar final weekend a notable instance – had a notice of despair about it. However Leclerc doesn’t suppose so.
“I feel the increase of motivation he’ll get coming right into a workforce like Ferrari will probably be loopy,” he predicts. “Lewis remains to be distinctive. It’s been a troublesome season for Mercedes as a workforce. I feel they’ve been battling the automotive, they usually explored a bit of bit like we did for these three races after Monaco, the place you’re exploring with the set-up, and that doesn’t assist any of the drivers, and that makes it very, very tough. Confidence is every thing in Formulation One.
“However I’ve no doubts in any respect that I’ll be dealing with peak Lewis Hamilton, and that will probably be an especially big problem.”
‘I’ve no doubts about Lewis’s means’
Leclerc can be anticipated to say that. A well mannered, well-brought-up boy (at the least when he isn’t swearing over the radio as he was in Las Vegas when advised by his pit wall that team-mate Carlos Sainz wouldn’t cross him, just for the Spaniard to do precisely that), he’s hardly going to write down off the problem of a Formulation One legend earlier than they’ve even teamed up.
However it is usually a wise take. Hamilton might properly rediscover his mojo at Maranello. As he confirmed at Silverstone and once more in Las Vegas, when he feels assured with the automotive, he’s nonetheless a drive to be reckoned with.
Leclerc should really feel assured, although, particularly given George Russell’s dominance over his team-mate in qualifying this season. The youthful Mercedes man has a 23-6 benefit of their qualifying head-to-head this 12 months, and one F1 driver, who shall stay nameless, advised Telegraph Sport earlier this 12 months that Leclerc would “wipe the ground” with Hamilton on Saturdays.
Once more, Leclerc is diplomatic. “I don’t know what’s occurring there,” he says of Hamilton’s one-lap struggles. “Clearly, I can see the outcomes. However to be trustworthy, it’s very tough for me to guage a state of affairs once I don’t know what’s occurring. However once more, I’ve no doubts in Lewis’s functionality and the way good he’s.”
‘My solely aim left to tick off is the F1 title’
Leclerc is extra assured when speaking about himself. The son of a racing driver, Hervé, who competed in Formulation Three within the Eighties and Nineties, and a former hairdresser, Pascale, his early profession was marked by tragedy. First his godfather, former F1 driver Jules Bianchi, died 9 months after crashing on the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. Then, when Leclerc was in F2 in 2017, his father additionally handed away, aged simply 54, after a protracted sickness.
Leclerc has typically spoken in regards to the affect these experiences had on him at such a younger age. However a decade on from Bianchi’s crash he now feels he’s in “the very best place” he has ever been “each mentally and bodily”, including he has “maximised the automotive’s potential” this 12 months.
Leclerc has definitely been extra constant. He has been on the rostrum 12 occasions this 12 months, a brand new document for him, whereas it’d shock some to be taught that since Spa, Leclerc has really gained extra factors than some other driver on the grid: 164 in comparison with 152 for Verstappen and 150 for Norris.
Briefly, Leclerc believes he’s prepared for a world title shot. “That’s my solely dream now,” he says. “Profitable at Monaco was one among my largest desires. Profitable at Monza was one among my largest desires. Driving for Ferrari was one among my largest desires. However now I’ve ticked all these packing containers there’s just one left, and that’s to grow to be the Formulation One world champion. I really feel prepared.”
One factor he has by no means been is in a title struggle. Not likely. He was for a quick interval in 2022, just for Ferrari to fall away. However Leclerc argues that merely driving for the Scuderia – as he has his complete profession, aside from his debut season in 2018 when he was loaned out to Sauber – means he’s inured to stress.
“Ferrari is a really particular surroundings, and the truth that I’ve identified that so early in my profession, that has helped me in some sort of methods, since you are right away underneath the highlight.
“It wasn’t really easy to handle that in the beginning, however you get used to it. And once I was talking in regards to the step in mentality earlier, that’s precisely what I meant. Not solely from my facet, however from the entire workforce.
“To not be too affected by outdoors noises is tremendous necessary in Formulation One, since you’re solely pretty much as good as your final race. And particularly if you end up in Ferrari, that makes it very tough, as a result of if you’re very a lot affected by what’s occurring round, emotionally it’s very tough to handle. And I felt like this was what was taking place up to now. However I don’t suppose it’s nonetheless the case. I feel Fred [Vasseur, Ferrari’s team principal since 2023] has loads to do with that.”
However is he prepared for the Hamilton insanity? That’s the large query. Driving for Ferrari is one factor, however driving for Ferrari alongside Hamilton, with all of the attendant media curiosity, the sponsor curiosity, the entourage, the polemics, is sort of one other. Leclerc, who just lately posted a video of himself taking a Rafale supersonic jet for a spin, as a part of a time out with French Air and Area Pressure, smiles.
“I feel so,” he says. “I’m excited. I feel all people’s excited. Ferrari is so large in itself, and clearly to have a legend of Formulation One like Lewis becoming a member of the workforce will deliver much more highlight to a workforce that already, most likely, has extra spotlights within the paddock. However on my facet, the very best factor I can do is to focus by myself job and attempt to ship in the very best approach. As I say, I’ve bought a whole lot of respect for Lewis, and it’s not going to be simple. However I’m actually motivated for that.” It’s going to be fascinating watching them compete to be Ferrari’s high gun.
