Leclerc recounts important Ferrari moment: 'I was thinking of my father'

Charles Leclerc dreamed of competing for Ferrari in Formula 1 in his childhood. He saw that dream come true when, in 2019, he became the youngest debutant with the team since Ricardo Rodriguez in 1961. In the future, he would love to help young talents with the same dream but without the resources to make it that far too.

Leclerc describes it as an emotional moment when he donned his Ferrari overalls for the first time after being accepted into the Ferrari Driver Academy. "It was a big emotion because it was my childhood dream to get into F1 and race for the prancing horse, even though I was not an official Ferrari driver at that moment," he says in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Important moment for Leclerc

He continued: "It was an important step in my career. I also thought of my father, because he shared this dream with me." His father Hervé died in 2017 after a long illness. Charles was 19 years old at the time and would win the Formula 2 main race in Baku four days later. Two years earlier, Leclerc lost his close friend Jules Bianchi.

With that, Leclerc lost two important people in his life at an early age. How important they were to him is reflected in his favourite helmet design, which he drove within the 2022 French Grand Prix. It incorporates photos of Hervé and Jules. "Two super important people for me who are no longer with us. The creation of the helmet is a joint effort between myself and Adrien Paviot, a very good designer."

Leclerc was able to make his dream come true, but he also realises that there are many young talents who do not have the means to do so. "I would like to help talented young people, who don't have the means, to emerge and make their dreams come true. However, it is a project that takes time and therefore I only see it as possible in the future," he continued.