Who is Charles Leclerc? The Ferrari driver who can’t seem to rid his Monaco curse

Whether you believe in curses is a personal choice, but there’s something about Charles Leclerc and the Monaco circuit that doesn’t quite add up. In fact, to say Leclerc has not had a great relationship with his home race would, quite frankly, be the understatement of the year.

For one driver, no less a driver with as much speed and talent as Leclerc, to have so much misfortune at one track is unusual, but unfortunately for the Monegasque, his luck doesn’t seem to be changing.

During his one season in Formula 2, Leclerc qualified on pole for the feature race at Monaco but was forced to retire due to a suspension problem, and hence started the sprint race at the back of the grid. He collided with Norman Nato in that race, meaning he didn’t see the chequered flag all weekend. He of course went on to win F2, but a home win would’ve meant so much.

The theme of bad luck continued into Formula 1 where he suffered a brake problem for Sauber in 2018 and he ran into the back of Brendon Hartley causing both cars to retire.

The next year, with Ferrari, he failed to make it out of Q1 due to his team’s poor strategy to keep him in the garage, and he suffered a puncture and floor damage in the race which brought yet another home retirement.

Four races at Monaco in F2 and F1, zero finishes. Until now. 

It looked like his luck was about to change. Ferrari had found their speed, and Leclerc was on provisional pole. Then he crashed at the end of Q3. Provisional pole turned into actual pole and after Ferrari revealed his gearbox didn’t need repairs, it seemed as though Leclerc was destined to win.

However, the left driveshaft was damaged and he suffered a DNS. Five races in the top two categories, zero finishes. He can’t seem to catch a break at a circuit that means so much to him.

But how did Leclerc get here?

His karting career:

A record-breaker. Three words to accurately describe Monegasque's career in karting. After beginning his karting journey in 2005, he won the French Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Championship in his opening year, 2006 and 2008; his talent was clear from the offset.

Then the records came tumbling down. In 2009, he became the youngest ever French cadet Champion, in 2010 he became the youngest ever winner of the Monaco Kart Cup in the KF3 class, beating out the likes of fellow future F1 driver Pierre Gasly, and in 2011 he became the youngest ever winner of the CIK-FIA KF3 World Cup. In simple terms, Leclerc was quick.

And he stayed quick. Later in 2011, he was crowned winner of the CIK-FIA Academy Trophy and the ERDF Master Kart Paris-Bercy before he moved up to the KF2 category in 2012 with the factory-backed ART Grand Prix team.

In the KF2 class, these honours followed for Leclerc: CIK-FIA World Champion U18, vice European Champion CIK-FIA KF2, the youngest ever Champion of WSK Series KF2, 2nd in the CIK-FIA KZ World Cup and the youngest winner of the Winter Cup KZ.

His karting career went just as you’d expect for someone of Leclerc’s calibre, and success followed him into single-seater motorsport from 2014 onwards.

Motorsport:

In his rookie season in single-seaters, Leclerc raced for Fortec Motorsports in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps championship, finishing second behind the supreme Nyck de Vries who won nine of the 14 races in comparison to Leclerc’s two. 

The Monegasque did, however, win rookie of the year and beat George Russell in the championship, with the Briton finishing in fourth.

After just one year in the category, Leclerc graduated to Formula Three in 2015, competing in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship for Dutch team Van Amersfoort Racing. After taking four victories and 13 podiums in his rookie year, he ended the season in P4, behind Antonio Giovinazzi (2nd), but ahead of Lance Stroll (5th), the aforementioned Russell (6th), Alexander Albon (7th) and Callum Ilott (12th).

The following year, Leclerc moved to GP3, and after engaging in a title battle with Albon, the now-Ferrari driver was victorious and he secured the championship crown, taking three victories and eight podiums in the 18 races.

He then won Formula 2 at the first time of trying in 2017. In the first ever iteration in its name of FIA Formula Two, Leclerc was its first champion, and he was a worthy, and commanding winner. He won the title by 72 points, scoring seven victories and 10 podiums along the way.

Having joined the Ferrari academy in 2016, and acting as a development driver for Haas and the Scuderia, once a space opened up at Sauber for the 2018 F1 season, Leclerc was the chosen man.

Formula 1:

On his F1 debut, Leclerc became the first Monegasque driver to compete in the premier class of motorsport since Olivier Beretta in 1994 and he impressed thoroughly in his rookie season.

He beat teammate Marcus Ericsson 17-4 in qualifying, and ended the season in 13th place in the championship with 39 points; a sixth place finish in Baku was a particular high point.

With Kimi Raikkonen’s place at Ferrari in doubt at the end of 2018, it was confirmed that Leclerc would be joining the Prancing Horses after just one year in F1.

By partnering four-time world time champion Sebastian Vettel at the Scuderia, Leclerc was due to face immense pressure from his teammate, but it was the 2017 F2 champion who came out on top.

He finished fourth in the standings, behind both Mercedes cars and Max Verstappen, and back-to-back victories in Spa and Monza will live long in the memory. 

He scored 10 podiums that year, and followed that up with a further two podiums in a difficult 2020 season for Ferrari.

2021 has started far better than the previous year for Ferrari, and after five races he’s in P6, which could’ve been P3 had he been able to start the Monaco Grand Prix.

However, with the speed Ferrari have shown so far this year, Leclerc could well be fighting for pole positions, podiums and victories again in the not too distant future.

He’s a supreme talent with an abundance of class, and with the likes of Lewis Hamilton soon to be out of the sport, Leclerc is primed and ready to take over as the heavyweight of the sport.