Charles Leclerc made his Formula 1 debut in 2018, coming on the back of his Championship-winning Formula 2 campaign. He spent his first year with Sauber and immediately took the sport by storm by virtue of his good performances. This earned him his dream move to Ferrari, an outfit he had been a part of as a junior driver for a long time.
Since making his debut, Leclerc has had the number 16 displayed on his car. Every driver has a unique reason for them choosing the number that they want on their car & helmet, but according to Leclerc, his story is particularly uninteresting.
Leclerc revealed that when he first came to F1, he wanted the number seven or the number 10. Unfortunately, both were unavailable so he had to get creative to come up with a number that would mean something to him for the rest of his career. That is when he decided to go ahead with number 16.
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Why did Charles Leclerc choose number 16?
According to Leclerc, there were two reasons behind him choosing number 16 when he could not get 7 or 10. Firstly, when one adds six and one, they get seven. So that is why he wanted the numbers one and six on his car.
It is always so special to drive in the streets of the city I grew up in.
Monaco, let’s go ❤️🇲🇨 pic.twitter.com/DPSTujkapr— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) May 26, 2022
On top of that, the Monegasque driver was born on the 16th of October, which makes that number even more special. Leclerc has two reasons for going with 16, but it seems that the latter is more plausible.
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Leclerc looking to bring Championship glory back to Maranello
The last world champion to come out of Ferrari was Kimi Raikkonen back in 2007. The Maranell0-based outfit won the constructors’ title a year later, but since then, success has eluded the Italian outfit.
In 2022, the Tifosi were optimistic about their chances, especially with Leclerc winning two out of the opening three races. However, reliability issues and strategic goof-ups spoiled their chances as the season progressed.
2nd in the Driver and Team’s Championship. We did the best race possible and for that I’m happy.
Thank you for all the support during the year. We’ll work more than ever to do a further step in the right direction to fight for the championship next year ❤️ pic.twitter.com/JAgZHqElgy— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) November 20, 2022
Heading into the 2023 season, Leclerc will be hoping to keep the disappointment of last season behind him. The 25-year-old is looking to be involved in his first proper championship battle and will want to end the season by bringing Championship glory back to Maranello.
