Charles Leclerc lost his father, Herve Leclerc, in 2017 and that brought a significant change in his life. Leclerc was only 19 at the time and competing in F2. While he imminently got back to racing, he experienced a change in his demeanor as a man and as a racer.
Speaking on the Jay Shetty podcast earlier this year, Leclerc said, “At this time of your career or your life, you need that person that helps you grow as a man and also as a driver because he was basically my best mentor.”
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Herve mainly raced in the Formula 3 series during the mid-80s. While he did not achieve major success in getting to the pinnacle of motorsport, he gathered a lot of experience which came in handy for his sons who also followed in his footsteps.
Charles had to race at the F2 weekend in Baku right after his father’s death. However, it was his father’s teachings that pushed him to keep pursuing his ambition.
While the Ferrari prodigy had lied to his father a few days before he passed away about signing an F1 contract, it all worked out well for him. Charles won the 2017 F2 championship in dominant fashion and also secured an F1 drive with Sauber for the 2018 season.
A year later, his step up to Ferrari was perhaps the iconic dream-fulfilling moment he would have dreamt of with his father. Now, even his brother — Arthur Leclerc — is fighting to fulfill his dream of getting to F1.
How Arthur is having a stop-start racing career
Back when Charles was rising through the ranks, his brother Arthur had to stop karting for a while. As the Leclerc family only had enough funds to finance the older brother’s career, Arthur had to put his ambitions on hold.
However, as Charles got the backing from Ferrari, Arthur resumed his karting and also debuted at the Formula 4 level later to show his prowess. Arthur made his way up the feeder series through Formula Regional and F3 to finally get his shot in F2.
However, Arthur had an average rookie year in F2 with DAMS with just one podium to his name. As a result, he lost his F2 seat for 2024 and is currently driving in the European Le Mans series. He has also left the Ferrari Driver Academy but is still serving as the development driver for the Italian outfit.
