It will be "incredible" to partner Hamilton at Ferrari, claims Leclerc
Ferrari's Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc insists that it will be an "incredible" feeling to drive alongside Lewis Hamilton when the seven-time F1 world champion joins the Scuderia next year.
Ferrari announced in February that its driver line-up will go through key changes next year, confirming the departure of Carlos Sainz and revealing the sensational arrival of Lewis Hamilton. The Briton will turn 40 years when he arrived at Ferrari, but he will chase after his eighth Formula One world title as he is currently tied with the great German driver Michael Schumacher on the number of the drivers' titles.
The Scuderia's Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc insists that he is not intimidated by the prospect of having the seven-time world champion as his team-mate, but he is looking forward to sharing the same garage with Hamilton.
Speaking to The Gentlemans' journal, Leclerc noted: “It’s going to be incredible to have Lewis on the team and, obviously, to be able to have such an incredible champion in the same team as me, with the same car."
Leclerc has endured a series of lows and highs in his F1 career, and this season has been no exception to that trend. While Ferrari started the season with a very competitive car, the SF-24 has slowly dropped down the pecking order behind Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes in recent weeks.
Expanding on the emotional rollercoaster caused by the constant fluctuation of good and bad races, Leclerc noted: “I still have those pinch-yourself moments,. When you’ve got two or three races in a row that are so bad, you can hate your life. And in those moments, I’m always remembering and reminding myself how lucky I am to be doing what I do.”
It was about far more than picking up championship points. It was the penultimate chapter in a story about tragic loss, recovery, resilience and retribution.
Despite his young age, Leclerc had to endure huge personal losses in his life. Former F1 driver Jules Bianchi passed away at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix after he lost control of his Marussia in very wet conditions and collided with a recovery vehicle.
He suffered a diffuse axonal injury, and although he underwent emergency surgery and was placed into an induced coma, he remained comatose until his death. Bianchi was Leclerc's godfather.
His father Hervé was 54 years old when he passed away after a long battle with illness, just four days before Charles' triumph in the 2017 Baku Formula 2 feature race.
Reflecting on the influence of his father of godfather, Leclerd added: “My father did absolutely everything and showed me all the steps that I had to take in order to get to Formula 1,” he remembers fondly. “He was so passionate and he obviously wanted the best for me, and as soon as he saw that I liked it, which was his priority, then he made sure that he was giving me the right advice to succeed in this sport.”
“He was actually the son of my father’s best friend who was managing the karting track on that day I first tried it,” explains Leclerc. “He helped me in my career until, unfortunately, his accident in 2014 in Japan.”
“The people I’ve lost were the ones that wanted the best for me, and whenever I asked myself the question ‘what will they want me to do?’ the answer came up pretty quickly that my father would just want me to put the helmet on and go win races,” he says candidly.
“You can get ready mentally for many things, especially in my professional life, like how to be focused and relaxed in intense situations,” he explains – he has trained mentally for such scenarios since he was young. “But nothing really prepares you for a very difficult personal moment that you need to go through.”
