From Monte Carlo karting to a Ferrari seat, a 2019 breakthrough, a near-miss in 2022 and a home Monaco win in 2024.
A Monegasque driver, Leclerc has been at Ferrari since 2019 and was 2022 runner-up. He has nine Grand Prix wins, including Monaco in 2024, and a record 27 poles without a title.
Charles Leclerc is a Monegasque driver who has raced for Ferrari since 2019 and finished as runner-up in the 2022 world championship. He has won nine Grands Prix, and he owns the record for pole positions scored without a world title.
Born and raised in Monte Carlo, Leclerc moved from karting into junior single-seaters and then into Formula One with Sauber in 2018. Within a year he was partnering Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari, and his speed in qualifying has defined much of his reputation since.
How did Charles Leclerc rise through junior racing?
Leclerc started karting at seven, having first driven at Brignoles, a track owned by the father of his friend and godfather Jules Bianchi. He won the regional PACA Mini class title in 2005 with 15 wins from 18 races. His progress continued through national and international karting, and in 2011 he won the junior World Cup at Sarno.
In 2014 he entered Formula Renault 2.0 with Fortec, second behind Nyck de Vries in the Alps standings, and he beat Matevos Isaakyan to the rookies' title. The following year he moved into FIA European Formula 3 with Van Amersfoort Racing. He won four races there, earned a rookies' championship and finished fourth overall.
In 2016 he won the GP3 Series title with ART, with three victories from eight podiums. He dedicated the title to Bianchi, who had died in 2015. That result opened the door to Formula 2.
A pole-setter first and a racer second, Leclerc has built his career on the single lap and the shot at a title.
How did Leclerc win the 2017 Formula 2 title?
Leclerc joined Prema for the 2017 season, the first under the Formula 2 name, and took the title in his rookie year. He became the then-youngest GP2 or Formula 2 champion, aged 19 years and 356 days, and became the third rookie to win the title, following Hamilton, Rosberg and Hulkenberg.
He ended the year with seven victories, ten podiums and eight poles, a series record at that point. He dedicated his pole at Baku to his father, Herve, who had died four days before the Baku round. The title was clinched at Jerez, where he needed pole and victory and then held off Oliver Rowland in the closing laps.
What was Leclerc's first season at Sauber like?
Leclerc made his Formula One debut at the 2018 Australian Grand Prix with Sauber, finishing 13th. He became the first Monegasque driver in the sport since Olivier Beretta, back in 1994. His rookie season was uneven, but a sixth place at Azerbaijan brought him the first Monegasque points in the sport since Louis Chiron in 1950.
Three points finishes came in Canada, France and Austria, but he also had setbacks, including a brake failure in Monaco and collisions in Hungary and Belgium. He credited the halo device with protecting him in Belgium. He finished his rookie season 13th overall with 39 points to Marcus Ericsson's nine, and he was named FIA Rookie of the Year.
How did Leclerc's Ferrari debut go in 2019?
Leclerc joined Ferrari for 2019 in a swap with Kimi Raikkonen and partnered four-time champion Sebastian Vettel. He took his maiden pole at the Bahrain Grand Prix and was then the second-youngest driver to start a race from pole. He led most of that race before an engine problem with 10 laps left cost him the win, and he finished third for his first podium.
His breakthrough came in Belgium, where he took pole and fended off Lewis Hamilton to win. At 21 he became the third-youngest Grand Prix winner in the sport's history, and the first Monegasque to win a race. He dedicated that victory to Anthoine Hubert, who had been killed in a Formula 2 accident the day before.
He followed up at Monza with a win from pole, the first Ferrari victory there since Fernando Alonso in 2010. The Italian media gave him the nickname il Predestinato, which means the Predestined. He ended the season fourth in the championship with 264 points, 24 ahead of Vettel, and he won the FIA Pole Trophy with seven poles.
Why were 2020 and 2021 difficult for Leclerc?
The 2020 season was delayed and shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Ferrari struggled with its SF1000. Leclerc finished third at the Austrian Grand Prix, but a collision with Vettel at the Styrian Grand Prix ended both their races, and he took full responsibility for it. He secured a podium at Silverstone, where a puncture on a rival car helped him, and he finished eighth in the championship with 98 points.
Ferrari finished sixth in the constructors' table in 2020, its lowest since 1980. Leclerc remained one of the team's best qualifiers, but race results often fell short.
In 2021 he was partnered by Carlos Sainz Jr. His only podium came with second at the British Grand Prix, where he inherited the lead early and held it until Hamilton passed him near the end. He finished seventh in the championship, and it was the first time a teammate had outscored him in his formula racing career.
What happened in Leclerc's 2022 title fight?
New ground-effect regulations gave Ferrari a real chance against Red Bull in 2022. Leclerc won the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix from pole after a close battle with Max Verstappen, making him the first Monegasque driver to lead the world championship. He went on to take a dominant win from pole at Australia, which gave him a grand slam of pole, victory, fastest lap and lead lap.
His challenge faded in the second half of the year. A power unit failure ended a race he was leading in Spain, and a spin in Emilia Romagna cost him more ground. He won the Austrian Grand Prix and took five podiums in a row from the Dutch Grand Prix, but Verstappen sealed the crown in Japan. Leclerc ended as runner-up with 308 points, 146 behind Verstappen.
He topped the grid nine times that season and finished with three wins and 11 podiums.
How did Leclerc's 2023 and 2024 seasons unfold?
Ferrari struggled for consistent race pace in 2023, and Red Bull consolidated its advantage. Leclerc still took five pole positions and six podiums, and he finished fifth in the championship on 206 points. His Las Vegas overtake on Sergio Perez, which came on the final lap, earned him the Overtake Award.
The 2024 season brought a clear improvement. Ferrari locked out a 1-2 in Australia, its first since 2022, and Leclerc won the Monaco Grand Prix on pole. He became the first Monegasque driver to win his home race, and the first to win the race in the Formula One World Championship. He also won the Italian Grand Prix, a surprise result that gave Ferrari its first home win since 2019, and added a win at the United States Grand Prix.
He finished the 2024 championship third on 356 points, behind Verstappen and Lando Norris, and he was the strongest scorer from the summer break onwards.
What defined Leclerc's 2025 and 2026 seasons?
In 2025 Leclerc was partnered by seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari expected to challenge McLaren, but the season was difficult, and Leclerc finished fifth overall on 242 points with seven podiums. He took a surprise pole in Hungary and led most of the race before setup issues dropped him to fourth.
In 2026 he signed a two-year contract extension through 2028. That year Leclerc took the British Grand Prix, with George Russell and Hamilton behind him, and he finished second in Belgium behind the championship leader Kimi Antonelli. The season had its ups and downs, including a retirement at the Italian Grand Prix.
What records has Leclerc set?
No driver has scored more poles without a world championship than Leclerc, who has 27. He has also held the record in Formula 2 or GP2 for the most poles in a single season, with eight in 2017. His pole-to-win conversion rate of about 18.5 per cent shows that his qualifying speed has outpaced his race results at times.
He received the FIA Pole Trophy in 2019 and again in 2022. A 2020 Amazon Web Services analysis placed him seventh on its all-time single-lap ranking.
| Season | Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Sauber | 13th with 39 points; sixth in Azerbaijan |
| 2019 | Ferrari | Fourth with 264 points; wins at Belgium and Italy |
| 2020 | Ferrari | Eighth with 98 points; podium at Silverstone |
| 2021 | Ferrari | Seventh; second at the British Grand Prix |
| 2022 | Ferrari | Runner-up with 308 points; three wins and nine poles |
| 2023 | Ferrari | Fifth with 206 points; five poles |
| 2024 | Ferrari | Third with 356 points; wins at Monaco, Italy and the United States |
| 2025 | Ferrari | Fifth with 242 points; surprise pole in Hungary |
| 2026 | Ferrari | Win at the British Grand Prix; second in Belgium |
What is Leclerc like away from the track?
Leclerc is trilingual, speaking French, Italian and English. He has a serious interest in music, and in 2024 he released the extended play Dreamers with the French pianist Sofiane Pamart. It reached second place on Billboard's classical listings. He also appeared in the 2020 film Le Grand Rendez-vous, lapping the Monaco circuit in a Ferrari SF90 Stradale.
His philanthropy includes an ambassadorship with the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation and a 2020 sim racing win that raised more than US$70,000 for pandemic relief. He sold his race kit from the 2023 Monaco weekend and raised 368,800 euros for victims of the Emilia-Romagna floods.
His helmet has been a vehicle for remembrance. It carries the words Papa and Jules in memory of his father and godfather, and he has worn tribute designs for Bianchi, Vettel and Sainz.
What is Leclerc's legacy so far?
Leclerc is known as one of the sport's most gifted qualifiers, and his Monaco win in 2024 made him a national hero in Monaco. His 2022 title challenge and his pole record show the sharpness that carried him to the front. His career is still unfolding, and his 2026 win at Silverstone showed that he remains a serious championship contender.
.jpg){kind=link}