Ferrari star Charles Leclerc came from a humble background, but his mother Pascale certainly didn’t. Pascale’s father, Charles Manni was the founder of a quite successful car parts manufacturing company based in France named Mecaplast which racks up over $1,200,000,000 per year currently. However, as per Leclerc’s biography written by Adam Hay-Nicholls, the grandparents of the Monegasque driver hesitated to fund his racing career 6 years before Ferrari hired him, despite earning $700,000,000 that year.
The company is run by Leclerc’s uncle Thierry Manni and is known as the Novares group. The company hit a barrier back in 2020 when they were forced to close down 40 of its 45 plants around the world.
However, they soon received a cash injection of more than $56,000,000 from their shareholder, helping the company get back on track, and reopen 13 of their production sites across Europe. However, despite having such a huge financial backup, Leclerc’s grandparents were not open to helping their grandson’s racing career.
Financial hardships made it difficult for Charles Leclerc to progress
It is no news that it takes sweat and blood to get to Formula 1–the pinnacle of motorsports. But what is often missed is that a career in racing requires enormous financial backing too. And Ferrari’s current Championship hope Charles Leclerc lacked that. He has mentioned how his grandparents, despite being the principal shareholders of a robust business only paid the bills for his hotel stay and transports.
At one point in time, Charles desperately needed money to move to the KF2 class of karting, which is the topmost division for racers aged 14 and above. His competitors Albon and Verstappen were also eyeing a spot at KF2, but he needed to beat them. Remembering those times, Charles said, “My parents aren’t particularly rich. My grandparents were a little bit, so they were helping us pay for the hotels and all that, but they never wanted to invest anything in racing.”
Later, Charles Leclerc did manage to move up to the KF2 category in 2012 as a part of the ART Grand Prix team. And owing to his talent, the Monegasque left his financial worries behind and went on to win the WSK Euro Series in the same year.
Leclerc owes his career to Jules Bianchi’s family
In 2014, when Charles Leclerc’s Godfather Jules Bianchi succumbed to fatal injuries he suffered at the Japanese GP, the Monegasque lost the light that guided him into F1. Leclerc was faced with trouble finding sponsorships when Jules Bianchi’s family used their contacts and had him meet with Nicolas Todt.
Nicholas Todt took Leclerc under his wing at the Bianchis’ behest but he later confessed that he never saw Leclerc to be competent enough to fight for the World Championship. Even today, the Monegasque maintains that had it not been for Jules Bianchi, Leclerc would have left racing altogether. Todt stayed as his sponsor for a long time until Leclerc was spotted by Ferrari.
Today, he is undoubtedly one of F1’s biggest stars, driving for the Maranello-based outfit.
