As one of the brightest stars on the Formula One grid, the 24-year-old from Monaco continues to stamp his authority on the racing world, but there’s more to Charles Leclerc than just his racing prowess. Let’s explore some lesser-known facts now!

While Charles Leclerc’s exploits on the track may be well known, his personal life, hobbies, opinions, and family life are kept relatively quiet. Therefore, the 26 facts below are meant to showcase the lesser-known side of one of racing’s biggest stars.

With a career spanning over 17 years since his success with karting at eight years of age, Charles Leclerc has built a name for himself both on and off the track. Let’s look at some of these lesser-known facts now.

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1. Is Charles Leclerc’s Family Rich?

Because Formula One is a very difficult sport to break into within significant financial backing or sponsorships, the majority of Formula One drivers throughout the years have either come from extremely wealthy families (such as Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll) or have had the backing of wealthy sponsors (such as Sergio Perez’s relationship with Carlos Slim.)

However, there are numerous drivers on the grid who come from moderate backgrounds, such as both Mercedes Drivers: Lewis Hamilton, and Valterri Bottas, with some drivers such as Esteban Ocon, whose family struggled financially well into his racing career.

Despite coming from one of the most lavish neighborhoods in the world, having been born in Monte Carlo, his family background was modest and certainly not as wealthy as some of the other drivers on the grid.

That being said, Charles Leclerc disagrees with Lewis Hamilton’s claim that Formula One is “a billionaires boys’ club” while also admitting programs such as the Ferrari Academy were instrumental in identifying Charles Leclerc’s talent and assisting him financially in pursuit of his professional racing ambitions.

Furthermore, Charles Leclerc did have some assistance from his extended family, although they too were not particularly well-off financially:

“[My] grandfather had quite a big plastic industry… My parents aren’t’ particularly rich, my grandparents were a little bit, so they were helping us pay for the hotels”

2. Does Charles Leclerc Have A Girlfriend?

At the time of writing, Charles Leclerc is dating Charlotte Siné.

Charlotte Siné is a fellow Monegasque resident, architecture student, and the daughter of Emmanuel Siné, a successful businessman and the general manager of the Société des Bains de Mer, an entertainment company based out of Monaco.

Along with her architectural studies, the 22-year-old has an interest in fashion and has designed a range of jewelry and sneakers with her sister Victoria. With a fairly large following on Instagram, she has used the platform for promoting her designs.

As an Instagram model with a love of travel Charlotte Siné has honed her linguistic skills across the globe, given her fluency in English, French, and Italian.

Prior to his relationship with Charlotte Siné, Charles LeClerc was dating Giada Gianni, a 22-year-old Instagram model from Italy.

Despite their relationship having begun back in 2015, the couple announced their separation in 2019 as a result of his commitment to his professional racing career with Ferrari.

3. Does Charles Leclerc Have A Child?

Despite some rumors having surfaced on chat rooms and image forums such as Tumblr about Charles Leclerc having a child, there is nothing to substantiate these claims.

4. Does Charles Leclerc Have A Brother?

Charles Leclerc is the middle child of two siblings: a younger brother Arthur Leclerc and an older brother Lorenzo Leclerc.

Lorenzo Leclerc is in his mid-20s and celebrates his birthday on the 7th of November. Despite his young age, he’s an extremely successful business.

Following his graduation from the International University of Monaco, where he completed his Bachelors in Business & Administration, Lorenzo Leclerc pursued a Master in Management from Reims Management School.

Lorenzo Leclerc was a director at Apex before being appointed the position of Managing Director at Square Capital in September of 2020.

During his younger years, Lorenzo Leclerc was also a keen kart driver but believed his prospects of becoming a professional driver were hampered by financial difficulties. He subsequently serves in a pseudo management role for Arthur Leclerc.

Born on the 14th of October 2000, Arthur Leclerc is the youngest of the three Leclerc brothers and a successful kart racer in his own right.

Arthur Leclerc has been impressive as a racer. Highlights of his career include:

  • Student at the Ferrari Academy,
  • Kart Racing Academy Championship winner (2014),
  • Fifth place at the French F4 Championship with two race wins (2018),
  • Venturi Formula – E test driver (2019),
  • Third place at the ADAC Formula 4 Championship with eight podiums and two race wins (2019), and
  • Second place at the Formula Regional European Championship, scoring 343 points and securing six race wins.

5. Did Charles Leclerc Go To College?

Although Charles Leclerc never attended higher education at a college or university, he was a member of Ferrari’s Driver Academy from 2016.

6. Does Charles Leclerc Have A YouTube Channel?

Charles Leclerc started his own YouTube Channel in 2020, simply entitled “Charles Leclerc.”

Despite his channel being praised for its high production value and met with a positive response from fans, the channel has only posted three videos since its inception – with no activity being reported on the channel since 2020.

With a subscriber count of 28 700, it will be interesting to see if Charles Leclerc decides to revive the channel in the future, as the second video posted to the channel of a charity day football event has an impressive 319 000 views!

The channel can be accessed via the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIzIX1qgW7P3eF6JCk_afCA/featured

7. Has Charles Leclerc Won A Grand Prix?

In his first season as a driver for Ferrari in 2019, Charles Leclerc achieved his first win at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.

Having secured pole position at the start of the Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc had to fight hard to stave off the advances from the two Mercedes drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Valterri Bottas, who secured second and third place respectfully.

In doing so, Charles LeClerc became the first Monegasque driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix.

Charles LeClerc also dedicated his maiden win to the late Anthoine Hubert, a long-time friend, and fellow Formula 2 driver who tragically passed away the day before the start of the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix due to an accident in the Formula 2 Grand Prix held at the same venue.

Perhaps even more impressive is that Charles LeClerc secured back-to-back victories, having achieved his second victory at the Italian Grand Prix the week after the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix.

While his subsequent two seasons for Ferrari have yet to produce any further Grand Prix victories, there is no doubt that Charles LeClerc will be standing on top of the podium in the near future!

8. What Car Does Charles Leclerc Drive?

During his professional career in Formula One, Charles Leclerc has driven the following models:

  1. Haas VF-16 (2016),
  • Sauber C36 (2017),
  • Sauber C37 (2018),
  • Ferrari SF90 (2019),
  • Ferrari SF1000 (2020),
  • Ferrari SF21 (2021).

Outside of the racing track, Charles Leclerc has been seen driving a custom Ferrari 488 Pista Spider.

While not as quick as his work vehicle, the jet black supercar sporting his racing number is no slouch under the hood, with a top speed of 211 mph and 0mph to 60mph in less than 2.9 seconds!

9. How Tall Is Charles Leclerc?

At 1.80m (5’ 10”), Charles Leclerc is tied with Carlos Sainz, Daniel Riccardo, and Lance Stroll as the fourth tallest driver on the Formula One Grid. 

While there were rumors that Charles Leclerc is related to Édouard Leclerc, the founder of a French supermarket chain, these rumors are unsubstantiated – with Leclerc being a fairly common French surname.

Despite there being two famous French generals throughout history, one sporting the same name as Charles Leclerc:

  • General Charles-Victor-Emmanuel Leclerc (1772 to 1802), and
  • General Philippe François Marie Leclerc de Hauteclocque (1902 to 1947).

There is no evidence to conclude that they are related to Charles Leclerc.

Although Charles Leclerc was not related to Jules Bianchi, he had a very close relationship with the Formula One driver, as he was Charles Leclerc’s godfather.

Jules Bianchi was instrumental as an inspiration and mentor to a young Charles Leclerc until his fatal accident in 2014 at the Japanese Grand Prix left him in a comatose state for close to a year until his death on the 17th of July 2015.

Making Jules Bianchi the only Formula One related death since Ayrton Senna’s death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

In honor of his passing, Charles Leclerc donned a tribute helmet at the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix with the design of Bianchi’s helmet on one side (the other side being reserved for the design of his late father’s racing helmet.)

13. What Is Charles Leclerc Nationality?

Born in Monte Carlo, Monaco, Charles Leclerc is Monégasque, as are both his parents (his father by nationality and his mother by marriage.)

14. What Is Charles Leclerc Salary?

As of 2021, Charles Leclerc’s salary is reported as being $12 000 000 (with Ferrari expected to either match or increase his salary come the 2022 season.)

Despite his recent introduction to Formula One, this places Charles Leclerc’s salary as 5th overall (behind Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Riccardo’s tie for 4th place at $15 000 000) and close to $2 000 000 more than his teammate Carlos Sainz.

This impressive ranking also placed Charles Leclerc higher than more seasoned drivers such as Kimi Raikkonen, Valtteri Bottas, and Sergio Perez for the 2021 season! 

15. What Is Charles Leclerc Net Worth?

Although sources seem to suggest that Charles Leclerc’s net worth is $12 000, this wouldn’t seem to correlate to his salaries during his Formula One career over the years from different teams (let alone his performance bonuses throughout the years.)

Furthermore, with endorsements from Richard Mille during his junior career and his recent partnership with the Italian luxury fashion brand Giorgio Armani, there’s no doubt Charles Le Clerc’s worth is in the tens of millions of dollars!

He also has his own karting company in association with Birel ART, but all indications suggest the purpose of the company is to promote and fund kart racing globally, not to turn a profit.

16. What Is Charles Leclerc’s Twitch Channel?

With the rise of Formula One simulations and gaming, numerous young drivers on the grid have taken to streaming platforms such as Twitch to showcase their skills, prove off-track entertainment, and connect with their younger fans.

Charles Leclerc has followed in the footsteps of younger drivers like Lando Norris, and while his YouTube channel may not be active, his Twitch channel “charlesleclerc” is thriving with over 727 000 followers!

However, it’s not all fun and games, as Charles Leclerc is as competitive in the virtual space as he is on the race track, having one-two Formula One official Virtual Grand Prix series against the likes of fellow drivers Lando Norris, George Russell, and Alex Albon.

Charles Leclerc has gone on record to say that he believes Twitch was an important platform to entertain during the coronavirus pandemic and to remain mentally and emotionally sharp during the offseason.

Furthermore, Charles Leclerc says that this Twitch channel allows himself and other races to be themselves and to show a side to the fans that are more akin to their actual personalities than what’s seen over the race weekends and press conferences:

“[I] really enjoyed it, and I think it is the closest for people that follow me that you can get of the real me. At the F1 track, obviously, it’s different; there’s pressure and things like this, so to be yourself is a bit different.”

17. What Languages Does Charles Leclerc Speak?

Charles Leclerc speaks French as his native language from Monaco, as well as English and Italian. It is not publically known whether he can speak Monégasque or not, but technically this is a dialect more than an official language.

18. When Did Charles Leclerc Join F1?

Although it would be some time before Charles Leclerc’s official debut as a racer over a Grand Prix weekend, his career in Formula One began at the age of 19, when he was inducted into the Ferrari Driver Academy on a full-time contract in 2016. 

During his time at the academy, Charles Leclerc was contracted as a test driver for Ferrari’s customer team Haas F1, with his first Formula One tests for Haas coming in the 2016 British Grand Prix, followed by further FP1 sessions throughout the season.

Charles Leclerc’s testing duties would continue in 2017 for the Sauber Formula One Team, whereafter he would make his official race debut at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix racing under Alfa Romeo.

His performances in his early Formula One career in 2017 and 2018 saw Charles Leclerc being awarded the following awards:

  • The Autosport Awards Rookie of the Year (2017),
  • The FIA Rookie of the Year (2017),
  • The Autosport Awards Rookie of the Year (2018),
  • The FIA Rookie of the Year (2018), and
  • The Confartigianato Motori Best Young Driver (2018)

His debut as a driver for Alfa Romeo in the 2018 Formula One World Championship was a significant one, as it marked the first appearance of a Monégasque Formula One driver since Olivier Beretta in 1994.

While his debut Formula One victory at the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix further added to his service to Monaco, the win made history with Charles Leclerc being the first Monegasque driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix.

19. When Is Charles Leclerc’s Birthday?

Charles Leclerc was born on the 16th of October 1997, making him 24 years of age at the time of writing and a Libra as per the Western Zodiac.

20. Who Is Charles Leclerc’s Godfather?

As mentioned above, Charles Leclerc’s godfather was Jules Bianchi, a French Formula One driver for the Marussia F1 Team who tragically passed away in 2015 due to injuries sustained from an accident at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. 

He was 25 years of age, with 34 entries into Formula One. Jules Bianchi’s racing number (number 17) was retired in his honor.

21. Who Are Charles Leclerc’s Parents?

Charles Leclerc’s parents are hi mother Pascale Leclerc and his late father Hervé Leclerc.

While not much is publically known about his mother’s profession and involvement with motorsport, the late Hervé Leclerc was a keen driver in his own right, having raced in both karting championships and Formula 3 in the 1980s and 1990s.

As a racing driver himself, Hervé Leclerc was instrumental in promoting all three of his children during their racing careers, a notable incident being when Hervé Leclerc took Charles Leclerc to the kart track of Philippe Bianchi.

Philippe Bianchi was the father of Formula 3 driver Jules Bianchi, a mentor to Charles Leclerc, who later became his godfather.

Hervé Leclerc passed away at the age of 54 from a long-standing illness, just a few days before Charles Leclerc’s Formula 2 victory at Baku, with Charles Leclerc dedicating his pole position in the race to his late father:

“I wouldn’t say it feels good, because with what happened it doesn’t feel good at all but it’s emotional and I’m kind of happy for him [Hervé Leclerc] up there. I’m sure he will be smiling.”

“[It’s been] an emotional weekend until now and I hope tomorrow I will do a good result for him, to make him proud and to thank him for everything he did for me.” 

22. Who Is Charles Leclerc’s Race Engineer?

While Charles Leclerc has had numerous race engineers during his professional racing career, his current race engineer is Xavier Padros.

Xavier Padros is a Spanish Formula One engineer who began his career at Formula One in 2010 as a performance engineer for the HRT Formula One team and later advanced to race engineer under Williams with Felipe Masa in 2013.

In 2015 Xavier Padros was appointed chief race engineer for the Nascar team Richard Childress Racing before making his return to Formula One with Ferrari as a factory-based engineer in 2018.

In 2019 he was appointed as the race engineer for Charles Leclerc and has remained with the Monegasque driver in the Ferrari paddock till today.

23. Why Is Charles Leclerc’s Number 16?

Most professional driers have stories/reasons surrounding their race number, and Charles Leclerc’s choice is no exception.

Having raced under number 7 throughout his professional career before joining Formula One, Charles Leclerc has stated that the number 7 is his favorite number because of his date of birth falls on the 16th day of October (1 + 6 = 7).

However, both the number 7 and the number 77 were unavailable when Charles Leclerc began his Formula One career, as they were occupied by Kimi Räikkönen and Valtteri Bottas respectfully.

While his third choice, the number 10, was occupied by Pierre Gasly, thus Charles Leclerc has to opt for the number 16 as his racing number in line with his birth date.

24. Where is Charles Leclerc From?

Charles Leclerc was born and raised in Monte Carlo, Monaco. He has remained in Monaco throughout his professional racing career.

25. Where did Charles Leclerc Go To School?

Charles Leclerc went to École de Fontvieille (Fontvieille Primary School) in Monaco and later joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2015.

26. What is Charles Leclerc’s Religion?

While Charles Leclerc is said to be spiritual and believes in God, he does not conform to any established religion.

Conclusion

Having recently signed an extension to his contract with Ferrari for the 2022 season, as well as his increased appearance through endorsements and social media platforms, there’s no doubt there will be even more excitement and news from Charles Leclerc; for years to come!

References

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