Charles Leclerc was born in “Monte Carlo, Monaco,” Formula1.com says, and grew up, in the Associated Press’s words, “in a flat overlooking the start-finish line.” In 2024 he “recalled afterwards how he had watched it as a boy with his father,” Reuters reported: “I remember being so young and watching the race with my friends, obviously with my father.” By June 2017 he was 19 and, in Formula Scout’s words, “the championship leader” in Formula 2. But “He knew his father, Herve, was close to the end,” BBC Sport wrote in 2019.
“Just before Charles Leclerc’s father died in June 2017, his son told him a little white lie,” BBC Sport says. “So Charles told Herve that he had been guaranteed an F1 drive for 2018. Only he hadn’t.” Hervé Leclerc “died on Tuesday 20th June,” Vroomkart reported. “Three days after his father’s death in that summer of 2017, Leclerc had to race in Baku in Formula 2,” BBC Sport says, and that Friday Formula Scout wrote: “The Monegasque is competing in Baku in honour of his father, who passed away on Tuesday.”
“I struggled to sleep on Thursday night,” Leclerc wrote in his own column, but he “ended up on pole through a lap I was very happy with”; Formula Scout’s headline was “Charles Leclerc takes fourth F2 pole in a row in Baku.” “After the pole lap, it was quite bad sitting in my car with my helmet on, because I was thinking about my father, and it was tough.” On Saturday, “Starting from pole position,” he took “an emotional victory in a disrupted and shortened feature race in Baku,” Formula Scout reported, “which comes after his father died on Tuesday.” The FIA described him “easily controlling the race for a lights to flag victory.”
“Ferrari’s partner team, Sauber, took him into F1 last year,” The Guardian wrote in 2019. “It was a bit earlier than I had really signed,” Leclerc told BBC Sport, “but in the end I didn’t lie because I am here and now in Ferrari, which feels incredible.”
On May 26, 2024, “Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc won the restarted Monaco Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday,” the Associated Press reported; he “had previously never finished on the podium at his home race.” He was “The first home-grown winner of Formula One’s showcase race since Louis Chiron in 1931,” Reuters said. “I realised actually two laps to the end that I was struggling to see out of the tunnel just because I had tears in my eyes,” he said, and, to the AP, “I must say I was thinking about my dad.” “I feel like I don’t only accomplish a dream of mine today, but also one of his.”
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- He lost his father on Tuesday, but on Saturday he won. Formula Scout (June 24, 2017, on his feature race win): “which comes after his father died on Tuesday.” Vroomkart: “died on Tuesday 20th June.” 14
- His name is Charles Leclerc. Formula1.com: “Place of Birth Monte Carlo, Monaco.” 10
- He grew up watching the Monaco Grand Prix with his dad. Reuters: he “recalled afterwards how he had watched it as a boy with his father”; Leclerc: “I remember being so young and watching the race with my friends, obviously with my father.” Associated Press: “having grown up in a flat overlooking the start-finish line.” 98
- By 2017, he was 19 and leading Formula 2. Formula1.com: “Date of Birth 16/10/1997.” Formula Scout (June 24, 2017): Nyck de Vries tried “to ‘overcut’ the championship leader.” 101
- But his father was dying. BBC Sport: “He knew his father, Herve, was close to the end.” 6
- So he told his dad a white lie: he had a Formula One seat. BBC Sport: “Just before Charles Leclerc’s father died in June 2017, his son told him a little white lie.” … “So Charles told Herve that he had been guaranteed an F1 drive for 2018. Only he hadn’t.” 6
- On June 20, his father died. Vroomkart: “died on Tuesday 20th June.” 4
- Just three days later, he was on track in Baku. BBC Sport: “Three days after his father’s death in that summer of 2017, Leclerc had to race in Baku in Formula 2.” The Guardian: “Hervé died three days before the fourth round in Baku.” Formula Scout (June 23, 2017): “The Monegasque is competing in Baku in honour of his father, who passed away on Tuesday.” 672
- He struggled to sleep, but he took pole position. Leclerc’s column: “I struggled to sleep on Thursday night” … “ended up on pole through a lap I was very happy with.” Formula Scout: “Charles Leclerc takes fourth F2 pole in a row in Baku.” 52
- “I was thinking about my father, and it was tough,” he said. Leclerc’s column: “After the pole lap, it was quite bad sitting in my car with my helmet on, because I was thinking about my father, and it was tough.” 5
- On Saturday, he started first and finished first. FIA: “easily controlling the race for a lights to flag victory.” Formula Scout: “Starting from pole position,” he took “an emotional victory in a disrupted and shortened feature race in Baku.” 31
- The next year, he made Formula One. The lie came true. The Guardian (2019): “Ferrari’s partner team, Sauber, took him into F1 last year.” Leclerc, to BBC Sport: “It was a bit earlier than I had really signed” … “but in the end I didn’t lie because I am here and now in Ferrari, which feels incredible.” 76
- In May 2024, he finally won his home race in Monaco. Associated Press (May 26, 2024): “Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc won the restarted Monaco Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday”; he “had previously never finished on the podium at his home race.” Reuters: “The first home-grown winner of Formula One’s showcase race since Louis Chiron in 1931.” 89
- Near the end, tears blurred his eyes. Leclerc, quoted by Reuters: “I realised actually two laps to the end that I was struggling to see out of the tunnel just because I had tears in my eyes.” Associated Press: “I must say I was thinking about my dad.” 98
- “I feel like I don’t only accomplish a dream of mine today, but also one of his,” he said. Leclerc, quoted by Reuters: “I feel like I don’t only accomplish a dream of mine today, but also one of his.” 9
Sources
- Leclerc seals emotional win in disrupted Baku F2 feature race (June 24, 2017) Formula Scout
- Charles Leclerc takes fourth F2 pole in a row in Baku (June 23, 2017) Formula Scout
- F2 - Leclerc dominates Baku feature race (June 2017) FIA
- Hervé Leclerc passes away (June 2017) Vroomkart
- Reflecting on an emotional Baku weekend (Charles Leclerc’s column, June 2017) Motorsport.com
- Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on his dying father’s wish (Andrew Benson, 2019) BBC Sport
- Charles Leclerc: ‘I lost my father quite early. It changes you forever’ (May 19, 2019) The Guardian
- Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc wins F1 Monaco GP after years of heartbreak at home race (Jerome Pugmire, May 26, 2024) Associated Press, on NBC 6 Miami
- Leclerc pays tribute to late father on emotional day (Alan Baldwin, May 27, 2024) Reuters, in The Herald
- Charles Leclerc (driver profile) Formula1.com
Notes
“Two days”: a popular clip says he lost his father two days before the race. He died on Tuesday, June 20 (Vroomkart, Formula Scout); Leclerc was on track three days later (BBC Sport, The Guardian) and won the feature race on Saturday, June 24, four days later. It was Formula 2, not Formula One.
“Lights to flag”: the FIA calls it a lights-to-flag win, but Luca Ghiotto, on a different tire strategy, ran ahead for a few laps before his stop (Formula Scout, Leclerc’s column). The Short says he “started first and finished first,” not that he led every lap.
The lie: BBC Sport says he told his father he “had been guaranteed an F1 drive for 2018”; the Short says “a Formula One seat,” not a Ferrari seat. Sauber took him into Formula One in 2018 (The Guardian); Ferrari came in 2019.
The Baku sprint race: he crossed the line first on the Sunday, but a penalty dropped him to second (his column, BBC Sport). The Short is about the Saturday win.
Monaco 2024: the race was restarted after a first-lap crash (Associated Press). “Finally”: he had started from pole at home twice before without reaching the podium (Associated Press, Reuters).
Left out: his father’s illness and age, his godfather Jules Bianchi, his mother and brothers, money and private life. Charles Leclerc is alive; only race results, his own column and his published interview words are used, and no relatives are shown.
Pictures: no free photo shows the 2017 Baku race, his father or the 2024 Monaco race; every picture of those moments we found is agency, F1, FIA, team or broadcast material, so none is used. Charles Leclerc is at the Champions for Charity football match in Mainz on July 27, 2016, and in the Haas Formula One car in practice at Silverstone on July 8, 2016, before he had a race seat. His Prema Formula 2 car is at Spa-Francorchamps on August 26, 2017, and at Monza in qualifying on September 1, 2017 (its rear wing is lettered “JE T’AIME PAPA,” “I love you, Dad”; we found no written source about it) and on track on September 3, 2017; he is in its cockpit, helmet on, at Monza that weekend (two photos), and leading the Formula 2 feature race at Jerez on October 7, 2017. All of these are after Baku. He is in Sauber team kit at Silverstone on July 6, 2018, at the Formula One tests in Barcelona on March 1, 2019, and his Ferrari is on track on July 5, 2024. The two photos of him in 2024 are from the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort on August 25, 2024, in his car on the grid and on the podium (a crop by the photographer), not Monaco. Monaco is shown on race day of the 2023 Grand Prix, May 28, 2023 (the balconies and the harbor), at night on April 19, 2022, and from a SkySat satellite on April 1, 2018; Baku from a SkySat satellite on April 9, 2018, and the #F1Baku sign in the Caspian Sea on April 16, 2019.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Brahms, Tragic Overture, Op. 81 (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0); Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0); Brahms, Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: IV. Adagio - Piu andante - Allegro non troppo, ma con brio (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0); Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 'From the New World': II. Largo (Musopen, public domain).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
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