With F1 having increased the calendar to 24 races in a year, drivers and the teams now have a far more hectic schedule. This may make many believe that drivers as a result may not have too much time to spend with their friends or family. However, Charles Leclerc once revealed that is not the case.
“With Formula 1, the good thing is that we travel all over the world,” he said on the Jay Shetty Podcast last year. “But years after years, you also always go to the same places, which then you meet new people in the city, and then you got group of friends everywhere around the world, which is also super nice”.
Leclerc then added that he actually found it harder to spend time with friends in junior categories and during his karting days. What made it harder for the Monegasque to make friends during his younger days was that he could not speak either English or Italian very well, and as a result, he found it difficult to communicate with others.
Another reason why Leclerc may find it easier to have friends and family around as an F1 driver is that he gets free paddock passes for race weekends. So, he could use these to have some of his closest people attend the races to support him from Ferrari’s garage.
And with him receiving a salary of $34 million as of 2024, he can always purchase tickets for whoever he likes. He once did so for his mother, Pascale, after having exhausted his paddock passes.
When Leclerc had to pay for his mother’s grandstand tickets
It is a rare sight for fans to see the family members of any F1 driver attend any race from the Grandstands. Afraid that fans may gather around their family members, F1 drivers often give their family members paddock passes whenever they want to attend a race.
However, that was not possible back in 2019 for Leclerc as he had already exhausted all his paddock passes for the Italian GP weekend, not knowing initially that his mother was keen on attending the race. With him going on to record only his second F1 win back then and his first in front of the adoring Tifosi, it would have been a real shame if his mother could not attend the race.
This sends me bcoz imagine celebrating Monza with Charles mum and you dont even know♥️ pic.twitter.com/vx4gLYNuhG
— Leclercvettel (@Leclercvettel1) August 7, 2022
But luckily for him, he was able to arrange $300 Grandstand tickets at the last minute for his mother. Since 2019 was just Leclerc’s second season in F1 and first with Ferrari, he was not famous enough that fans would know his family members.
So, Leclerc revealed that Pascale was able to attend the 2019 Italian GP without anyone noticing that she was his mother. But with eight Grand Prix wins to his name today, Leclerc is so popular that fans not only know a lot about him and his family but also closely keep tabs on his dog — Leo.
