Charles Leclerc (racing driver)

Charles Leclerc
Nationality Monaco Monégasque
Born (1997-10-16) 16 October 1997
Monte Carlo, Monaco
GP3 Series career
Debut season 2016
Current team ART Grand Prix
Car no. 1
Starts 18
Wins 3
Poles 4
Fastest laps 4
Best finish 1st in 2016
Previous series
2015
2014
2014		 FIA European Formula 3 Championship
Formula Renault 2.0 Alps
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0
Championship titles
2016 GP3 Series

Charles Leclerc (born 16 October 1997) is a Monégasque racing driver and reigning GP3 champion. He is a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy since 2016.

Career

Leclerc was a childhood friend of Jules Bianchi and began karting at the track managed by Bianchi's father in Brignoles. Like Bianchi, Leclerc joined the ARM management company headed by Nicolas Todt.[1]

Karting

Born in Monaco, Leclerc began his karting career in 2005, winning the French PACA Championship in 2005, 2006 and 2008.[2] In 2009 he became French Cadet champion before moving up to the KF3 class in 2010, where he won the Junior Monaco Kart Cup.[3] He continued in the KF3 class for 2011, winning the CIK-FIA KF3 World Cup, the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy and the ERDF Junior Kart Masters.[4] During the year, Leclerc also became a member of Nicolas Todt's All Road Management company.[5]

Leclerc graduated to the KF2 category in 2012 with the factory-backed ART Grand Prix team, winning the WSK Euro Series title,[6] as well as finishing runner-up in the CIK-FIA European KF2 Championship and the CIK-FIA Under 18 World Karting Championship.[7]

In his final year of karting in 2013, Leclerc claimed sixth position in the CIK-FIA European KZ Championship and finished second in the CIK-FIA World KZ Championship, behind current Red Bull Formula One driver Max Verstappen.[8]

Formula Renault 2.0

In 2014, Leclerc graduated to single-seaters, racing in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps championship for British team Fortec Motorsports.[9] During the season, he took seven podium positions, including a double victory at Monza,[10] to finish runner-up in the championship behind Koiranen GP's Nyck de Vries.[11] Leclerc also won the Junior Championship title at the final race of the season in Jerez, finishing ahead of Russian teenager Matevos Isaakyan.[12]

Leclerc also took part in a partial Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season with Fortec as a guest driver. In the six races he contested he finished on the podium three times, taking a second place at the Nürburgring followed by a pair of second-place finishes at the Hungaroring.[13]

Formula Three

Leclerc graduated to Formula Three in 2015, racing in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship with Dutch team Van Amersfoort Racing.[14] At the opening round of the season in Silverstone, Leclerc inherited Pole position for the second and third races of the weekend after original pole-sitter Felix Rosenqvist was excluded for a technical infringement.[15] He went on to take his first race victory in the third race of the weekend, ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi and Jake Dennis.[16] He took his second victory at the following round in Hockenheim, winning the third race as well as taking two additional podiums and three rookie victories over the course of the event.[17] Leclerc scored his third win in the first race at Spa-Francorchamps which saw him take the lead in the championship. However, Leclerc finished fourth in the standings, mostly due to damage sustained to his car's chassis following a collision with Lance Stroll at Zandvoort.

In November 2015, Leclerc finished second at the Macau Grand Prix.

GP3 Series

In December 2015, Leclerc partook in post-season testing with ART Grand Prix and Arden International. In February 2016, Nyck de Vries confirmed that Leclerc would race in the 2016 season.[18] ART signed Leclerc the following week. With the team, he claimed three victories and took the title in Abu Dhabi, despite crashing out in the feature race.

GP2 Series

The week following his victory in the GP3 title race, Leclerc was confirmed to be graduating to the series for the 2017 season with Prema Racing, alongside fellow GP3 racer and Ferrari junior Antonio Fuoco.[19]

Formula One

In March 2016, it was announced that Leclerc would be one of two drivers inducted into the Ferrari Driver Academy (of which Bianchi had been a part) and would act as development driver for Haas F1 Team and Scuderia Ferrari.[20] As part of his role as development driver, Leclerc participated in the first practice session of the 2016 British Grand Prix driving for Haas. It was believed that if Leclerc wins the GP3 Series championship, he would follow Daniil Kvyat and Valtteri Bottas straight from GP3 into F1 with Haas.[21] However this has since been debunked by Haas team principal Guenther Steiner who said that Leclerc would progress to the 2017 GP2 Series.[22]

Racing record

Career summary

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2014 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Fortec Motorsports 14 2 1 0 7 199 2nd
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 6 0 0 0 3 0 NC†
2015 FIA European Formula 3 Championship Van Amersfoort Racing 33 4 3 5 13 363.5 4th
Macau Grand Prix 1 0 0 0 1 N/A 2nd
2016 Formula One Scuderia Ferrari Development driver
Haas F1 Team
GP3 Series ART Grand Prix 18 3 4 4 8 202 1st

† As Leclerc was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

Complete FIA European Formula 3 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 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 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 DC Points
2015 Van Amersfoort Racing Volkswagen SIL
1
12		 SIL
2
2		 SIL
3
1		 HOC
1
3		 HOC
2
2		 HOC
3
1		 PAU
1
3		 PAU
2
2		 PAU
3
3		 MNZ
1
5		 MNZ
2
Ret		 MNZ
3
3		 SPA
1
1		 SPA
2
6		 SPA
3
2		 NOR
1
1		 NOR
2
3		 NOR
3
4		 ZAN
1
5		 ZAN
2
Ret		 ZAN
3
10		 RBR
1
6		 RBR
2
4		 RBR
3
6		 ALG
1
6		 ALG
2
7		 ALG
3
7		 NÜR
1
4		 NÜR
2
5		 NÜR
3
5		 HOC
1
8		 HOC
2
10		 HOC
3
21		 4th 363.5

Complete GP3 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Points
2016 ART Grand Prix CAT
FEA
1		 CAT
SPR
9		 RBR
FEA
1		 RBR
SPR
Ret		 SIL
FEA
2		 SIL
SPR
3		 HUN
FEA
6		 HUN
SPR
3		 HOC
FEA
5		 HOC
SPR
3		 SPA
FEA
1		 SPA
SPR
6		 MNZ
FEA
4		 MNZ
SPR
Ret		 SEP
FEA
3		 SEP
SPR
5		 YMC
FEA
Ret		 YMC
SPR
9		 1st 202

Complete Formula One participations

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

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 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 – –

References

  1. ↑ "Exclu : Jules Bianchi nous parle de Charles Leclerc ! | Charles Leclerc Fans". Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  2. ↑ "Charles Leclerc". allroadmanagement.com. All Road Management. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Monaco Kart Cup — KF3 2010 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "Karting details – the karting career of Charles Leclerc". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  5. ↑ "All Road Management — About Us". allroadmanagement.com. All Road Management. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  6. ↑ "ART Grand Prix and Charles Leclerc conquered the WSK Euro Series championship in Zuera". karting.art-grandprix.com. ART Grand Prix. 6 August 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  7. ↑ "Charles Leclerc". karting.art-grandprix.com. ART Grand Prix. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "CIK-FIA World KZ Championship 2013 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  9. ↑ Goddard, Stephen (26 November 2013). "Leclerc teams up with Fortec for Alps campaign". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  10. ↑ Khorounzhiy, Valentin (6 July 2014). "Charles Leclerc grabs second win of Monza weekend". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  11. ↑ "Formula Renault 2.0 Alps 2014 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  12. ↑ "Leclerc takes Rookie Championship title". fortecmotorsports.com. Fortec Motorsports. 8 October 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  13. ↑ Allen, Peter (18 December 2014). "PaddockScout Top 50 drivers of 2014: 20–11". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  14. ↑ Simmons, Marcus (14 January 2015). "Nicolas Todt protege Charles Leclerc secures F3 deal for 2015". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  15. ↑ Allen, Peter (11 April 2015). "Rosenqvist excluded from second qualifying, Leclerc inherits two poles". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  16. ↑ Allen, Peter (12 April 2015). "Charles Leclerc gets victory in final race of debut F3 weekend". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  17. ↑ Allen, Peter (3 May 2015). "Charles Leclerc wins wet third European F3 race at Hockenheim". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  18. ↑ "De Vries joins 2016 GP3 field with ART". 24 February 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2016. We have Charles Leclerc, Alexander Albon [neither confirmed yet], Jake Hughes, Jack Aitken and Kevin Jorg lining up on the grid and Antonio Fuoco is staying for another season. All these guys are capable of winning races
  19. ↑ "GP2: Ferrari juniors to Prema for 2017". November 28, 2016. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Leclerc gets Ferrari and Haas development role". 1 March 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  21. ↑ . 23 July 2016 http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/17129581/charles-leclerc-gp3-title-key-2017-f1-hopes. Retrieved 6 September 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  22. ↑ http://readmotorsport.com/2016/11/07/haas-steiner-gp3s-leclerc-to-drive-in-gp2/

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Antonio Fuoco		 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps
Junior Champion
2014 		Succeeded by
Matevos Isaakyan
Preceded by
Esteban Ocon		 European Formula 3
Rookie Champion
2015 		Succeeded by
Joel Eriksson
Preceded by
Esteban Ocon		 GP3 Series
Champion
2016 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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