Charles Leclerc is a Monegasque racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Ferrari. His current season’s best was finishing second in the 2022 Drivers’ Championship with Ferrari.
| Nationality | Monégasque |
|---|---|
| Born | Charles Marc Hervé Perceval Leclerc 16 October 1997 Monte Carlo, Monaco |
| Height | 5 ft 11 in / 1.80m |
| Weight | 68kg |
Leclerc’s motorsport journey began with a stellar karting career. His crowning achievement came in 2011 when he won the Karting World Cup, highlighting him as one of the most promising talents in his generation. This success opened doors for him to progress to the junior formulae. In 2016, Leclerc secured his first major championship title in the GP3 Series with ART Grand Prix. Following that season’s success, he won the inaugural Formula 2 Championship in 2017 with Prema Racing, becoming only the fourth driver in history to win the championship in their rookie season, a feat previously achieved by the likes of Lewis Hamilton.
Leclerc made his F1 debut in 2018 with Sauber, a team that had close ties to Ferrari. As part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, Leclerc’s rookie season in the C37 was seen as a critical test of his readiness for a top-tier team One. Despite driving for a team that struggled towards the back of the grid in previous years, Leclerc’s raw talent shone through. He scored points in 10 of the 21 races, finishing a respectable 13th in the championship with 39 points. After consistently outperforming his more experienced teammate, Marcus Ericsson, he was rewarded with a move to Ferrari in 2019.
Leclerc joined Ferrari in 2019, replacing Kimi Raikkonen to become teammate to Sebastian Vettel. In just his second race with the team, he made headlines by securing pole position at the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix, becoming the second-youngest pole-sitter in F1 history. That season, Leclerc took his first career victory at the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix, followed by an emotional win at Ferrari’s home race in Italy, ending the team’s nine-year victory drought at Monza. He finished fourth in the drivers’ standings in 2019, ahead of his more experienced teammate Vettel, and firmly established himself as Ferrari’s new leading driver.
The subsequent years were challenging for Ferrari. The 2020 and 2021 seasons saw the team struggle to compete with the dominant Mercedes and Red Bull teams, leading to winless campaigns for Leclerc.
With new regulations in 2022, Ferrari experienced a resurgence that saw Leclerc compete at the front again. He claimed multiple wins throughout the season and ultimately finished second in the 2022 Drivers’ Championship behind the dominant Max Verstappen.
In 2024, Leclerc achieved a career-defining milestone by winning the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix, becoming the first Monegasque driver to win his home race in 93 years. The win was particularly poignant for Leclerc, as it was a race he had dreamed of winning since childhood. As of the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, Leclerc has secured seven race wins, 26 pole positions, nine fastest laps, and 39 podiums in his Formula One career.
2025–2026: Partnership with Hamilton
Leclerc was partnered by seven-time World Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton from the 2025 season. Ahead of the year, Leclerc stated that he was “ready to win the championship,” with Ferrari widely expected to challenge McLaren.
His season began unevenly. A strategic error limited him to eighth at the rain-affected Australian Grand Prix, while he was disqualified from fifth in China after his SF-25 was found to be underweight. Leclerc finished fourth at both the Japanese and Bahrain Grands Prix amid early performance concerns, before securing his first podium of the season with third place in Saudi Arabia.
At the Miami Grand Prix weekend, Leclerc aquaplaned into the barriers on the reconnaissance lap for the sprint, later qualifying eighth and finishing seventh in the main race. He recovered from eleventh to fourth in Emilia-Romagna, but a late safety car dropped him to sixth on worn tyres. Sitting 85 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri, Leclerc stated that he “could not accept the situation” Ferrari were in.
Ferrari’s form improved in Monaco, where Leclerc qualified and finished second. He followed this with third place in Spain after a late safety car, fifth in Canada, and third again in Austria. A difficult British Grand Prix saw him squander pole position, qualifying sixth and finishing fourteenth after a mistimed wet-weather strategy.
Leclerc finished fourth in the Belgian Grand Prix sprint before qualifying third and holding position against Max Verstappen in the wet–dry main race. He took a surprise pole in Hungary, leading most of the race before dropping to fourth due to setup issues. At the Dutch Grand Prix, he ran fifth until a collision with Andrea Kimi Antonelli at Hugenholtzbocht forced his retirement, before finishing fourth in Italy following an early battle with Oscar Piastri.
A crash in qualifying at Azerbaijan preceded a ninth-place finish, while he placed sixth in Singapore amid growing concerns over the SF-25. In the United States, Leclerc finished fifth in the sprint and third in the Grand Prix after a race-long battle with Lando Norris. Starting from the front row in Mexico City, he retained second place following a controversial first-corner incident involving Norris, Hamilton, and Max Verstappen, later resisting a late charge from Verstappen.
Leclerc finished fifth in the São Paulo sprint before retiring from third in the Grand Prix after a collision with Antonelli and Piastri at the Senna ‘S’. Intra-team tensions escalated later in the season as Leclerc and Hamilton publicly clashed with Ferrari chairman John Elkann, with the team dropping to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.
Ferrari abandoned development of the SF-25 early, and performance declined across the final three Grands Prix. Leclerc finished fourth in Las Vegas following a double McLaren disqualification, eighth in Qatar after a troubled sprint, and fourth in Abu Dhabi, where he pressured champion-elect Norris while finishing four places ahead of Hamilton at each event.
Leclerc ended the season, and the ground-effect era, fifth in the World Drivers’ Championship with 242 points—86 ahead of Hamilton in sixth. He scored seven podiums to Hamilton’s none and outscored his teammate at 19 of the 24 Grands Prix.
Ahead of the new chassis and power unit regulations in 2026, Leclerc stated that “it is now or never” for his prospects of winning the World Drivers’ Championship with Ferrari.
Charles Leclerc Formula One World Championship career
| F1 Career | 2018-Ongoing |
|---|---|
| Teams | Alfa Romeo, Ferrari |
| Driver Number | 16 |
| Entries | Ongoing |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 8 |
| Podiums | 50 |
| Career points | Ongoing |
| Pole positions | 27 |
| Fastest laps | 11 |
| First entry | 2018 Australian Grand Prix |
| First win | 2019 Belgian Grand Prix |
| Last win | 2024 United States Grand Prix |
| Last entry | Ongoing |
Charles Leclerc Wins
| Win Number | Grand Prix |
|---|---|
| 1 | 2019 Belgian Grand Prix |
| 2 | 2019 Italian Grand Prix |
| 3 | 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix |
| 4 | 2022 Australian Grand Prix |
| 5 | 2022 Austrian Grand Prix |
| 6 | 2024 Monaco Grand Prix |
| 7 | 2024 Italian Grand Prix |
| 8 | 2024 United States Grand Prix |
Charles Leclerc Teammates
| 13 drivers | Involvement | First Year | Last Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Romain Grosjean | 4 | 2016 | |
| Esteban Gutierrez | 4 | 2016 | |
| Marcus Ericsson | 25 | 2017 | 2018 |
| Pascal Wehrlein | 4 | 2017 | |
| Antonio Giovinazzi | 6 | 2018 | |
| Sebastian Vettel | 38 | 2019 | 2020 |
| Carlos Sainz | 90 | 2021 | 2024 |
| Robert Schwartzman | 4 | 2022 | 2023 |
| Oliver Bearman | 2 | 2024 | |
| Arthur Leclerc | 2 | 2024 | 2025 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 25 | 2025 | 2026 |
| Dino Beganovic | 2 | 2025 | |
| Antonio Fuoco | 1 | 2025 |
Charles Leclerc Complete Formula One Results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Haas F1 Team | Haas VF-16 | Ferrari 061 1.6 V6 t | AUS | BHR | CHN | RUS | ESP | MON | CAN | EUR | AUT | GBR TD | HUN TD | GER TD | BEL | ITA | SIN | MAL | JPN | USA | MEX | BRA TD | ABU | — | — | |||
| 2017 | Sauber F1 Team | Sauber C36 | Ferrari 061 1.6 V6 t | AUS | CHN | BHR | RUS | ESP | MON | CAN | AZE | AUT | GBR | HUN | BEL | ITA | SIN | MAL TD | JPN | USA TD | MEX TD | BRA TD | ABU | — | — | ||||
| 2018 | Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team | Sauber C37 | Ferrari 062 EVO 1.6 V6 t | AUS 13 | BHR 12 | CHN 19 | AZE 6 | ESP 10 | MON 18† | CAN 10 | FRA 10 | AUT 9 | GBR Ret | GER 15 | HUN Ret | BEL Ret | ITA 11 | SIN 9 | RUS 7 | JPN Ret | USA Ret | MEX 7 | BRA 7 | ABU 7 | 13th | 39 | |||
| 2019 | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | Ferrari SF90 | Ferrari 064 1.6 V6 t | AUS 5 | BHR 3 | CHN 5 | AZE 5 | ESP 5 | MON Ret | CAN 3 | FRA 3 | AUT 2 | GBR 3 | GER Ret | HUN 4 | BEL 1 | ITA 1 | SIN 2 | RUS 3 | JPN 6 | MEX 4 | USA 4 | BRA 18† | ABU 3 | 4th | 264 | |||
| 2020 | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | Ferrari SF1000 | Ferrari 065 1.6 V6 t | AUT 2 | STY Ret | HUN 11 | GBR 3 | 70A 4 | ESP Ret | BEL 14 | ITA Ret | TUS 8 | RUS 6 | EIF 7 | POR 4 | EMI 5 | TUR 4 | BHR 10 | SKH Ret | ABU 13 | 8th | 98 | |||||||
| 2021 | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | Ferrari SF21 | Ferrari 065/6 1.6 V6 t | BHR 6 | EMI 4 | POR 6 | ESP 4 | MON DNS | AZE 4 | FRA 16 | STY 7 | AUT 8 | GBR 2 | HUN Ret | BEL 8‡ | NED 5 | ITA 4 | RUS 15 | TUR 4 | USA 4 | MXC 5 | SAP 5 | QAT 8 | SAU 7 | ABU 10 | 7th | 159 | ||
| 2022 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari F1-75 | Ferrari 066/7 1.6 V6 t | BHR 1 | SAU 2 | AUS 1 | EMI 6 2 | MIA 2 | ESP Ret | MON 4 | AZE Ret | CAN 5 | GBR 4 | AUT 1 2 | FRA Ret | HUN 6 | BEL 6 | NED 3 | ITA 2 | SIN 2 | JPN 3 | USA 3 | MXC 6 | SAP 4 6 | ABU 2 | 2nd | 308 | ||
| 2023 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari SF-23 | Ferrari 066/10 1.6 V6 t | BHR Ret | SAU 7 | AUS Ret | AZE 3 2 | MIA 7 | MON 6 | ESP 11 | CAN 4 | AUT 2 | GBR 9 | HUN 7 | BEL 3 5 | NED Ret | ITA 4 | SIN 4 | JPN 4 | QAT 5 | USA DSQ 3 | MXC 3 | SAP DNS 5 | LVG 2 | ABU 2 | 5th | 206 | ||
| 2024 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari SF-24 | Ferrari 066/12 1.6 V6 t | BHR 4 | SAU 3 | AUS 2 | JPN 4 | CHN 4 4 | MIA 3 2 | EMI 3 | MON 1 | CAN Ret | ESP 5 | AUT 11 7 | GBR 14 | HUN 4 | BEL 3 | NED 3 | ITA 1 | AZE 2 | SIN 5 | USA 1 4 | MXC 3 | SAP 5 3 | LVG 4 | QAT 2 5 | ABU 3 | 3rd | 356 |
| 2025 | Scuderia Ferrari HP | Ferrari SF-25 | Ferrari 066/15 1.6 V6 t | AUS 8 | CHN DSQ 5 | JPN 4 | BHR 4 | SAU 3 | MIA 7 | EMI 6 | MON 2 | ESP 3 | CAN 5 | AUT 3 | GBR 14 | BEL 3 4 | HUN 4 | NED Ret | ITA 4 | AZE 9 | SIN 6 | USA 3 5 | MXC 2 | SAP Ret 5 | LVG 4 | QAT 8 | ABU 4 | 5th | 242 |
| 2026 | Scuderia Ferrari HP | Ferrari SF-26 | – | AUS | CHN | JPN | BHR | SAU | MIA | CAN | MON | ESP | AUT | GBR | BEL | HUN | NED | ITA | MAD | AZE | SIN | USA | MXC | SAP | LVG | QAT | ABU | – | – |
‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
Tallest and Shortest F1 Drivers
Ever wondered who is the tallest F1 driver? And who tips the scales as the lightest? Check out our complete guide to the F1 Drivers heights and weights.
