Leclerc was crying on the last lap of Monaco and had to warn himself: “It’s difficult for me to see the exit from the tunnel”

Charles Leclerc He will never forget last Sunday, when he conquered one of the dreams he had always pursued with his father Hervé Leclerc, who died at the age of 54 in June 2017 from cancer. Both have fought since Charles was little to achieve the desire to reach F1, win in Monaco, at home, drive for Ferrari, and above all, become F1 world champion. And so far, the Monegasque has fulfilled three of those goals: he is an F1 driver for Ferrari and last Sunday he managed, after years of bad luck in the Principality, to lift the enormous weight of winning on the streets if where he grew up And of course, he didn’t hesitate to look to the sky when he got out of his Ferrari as the new winner of the 2024 Monaco GP.

It was a very emotional moment, unforgettable for Charles. Although he had made many turns that, inevitably, he thought about his father and their joint dream of success in Monte-Carlo. Even while driving, I couldn’t hold back my tears as I realized what was going to happen when I crossed the finish line.

“It’s a difficult race… starting on pole twice and not having reached this (in 2021 and 2022 he couldn’t win at the start) it’s more important. It’s the race that made me dream become an F1 driver. Emotions overwhelm me in the car and I think about my father more than I can while driving. He gave everything to get to F1. “It’s a joint dream of yours and mine for me to compete here and win.”, he commented as he got out of his car. And later, in a press conference, he admitted how difficult the final laps of the GP were. He knew it was almost impossible for Piastri to catch up with him.

Only a driving mistake between the formidable walls of Monaco could leave him without the longed-for victory. Because of this, he had to talk himself down to stop the overwhelming emotions that invaded him from playing with him.

“I think somewhere else I had a hard time controlling my emotions during the last 10 laps of the race. More than the podium. Two laps from the end I realized that it was difficult for me to see the exit of the tunnel because there were tears in his eyes. And he said to me:’Damn, Charles, you can’t do that now. You still have two laps to go.’ And especially on a track like Monaco, you have to be with them until the end. “It’s very difficult to hide those emotions, those thoughts again, of the people who helped me get to where I am today,” he commented.

“Just one win. The season is still very long. It’s 25 points like any other win. However, emotionally, this one means a lot. And I think also the fact that we started in pole position twice in the past and didn’t get the win for one reason or another, which we couldn’t really control, which was not under our control, makes it even more special”he added.

His father, Jules Bianchi and Hubert

Leclerc did not have an easy road to Formula 1. His father, Hervé Leclerc, also a former driver who competed in Formula 2 in the 80s, transmitted his passion for F1 to little Charles, who was very who fell in love with this sport when he tried a kart. Hervé led him on the path of Philippe Bianchi, the father of Charles’ future great friend, Jules Bianchi, who also became an F1 driver.

“My dad and Jules’ dad have been friends since they were kids and I was 4 years old when my dad took me to Brignoles (one of the best French karting circuits) where Bianchi was. The truth is that karting didn’t really appeal to me, but one day off and when I got on the kart everything changed. I did the first laps pulled and then I was able to drive by myself”he recalled in 2017.

On that kart track, they both grew up like brothers and Jules was a major character in their career. When Charles needed support to continue his dream, with no money left to continue, Jules, then a driver of the Ferrari Drivers Academy, hired his manager, Nicolas Todt (son of the former president of the FIA), to help young Charles.

In 2016, Charles Leclerc signed up for the Ferrari Drivers Academy. It happened two years after one of the tragedies that marked his life: the death of his great friend Jules Bianchi in 2014, at the Japanese F1 GP. That was just the beginning for Charles.

In 2017, after a long illness, his father Hervé died. Before that, Charles wanted me to smile forever at a white lie: “Dad, I will race in F1 in 2018.”. He hasn’t signed anything and won’t have that assurance no matter how well he drives in F2 in 2017, but he was able to make that statement a reality shortly after by going on loan to Alfa Romeo to debut as an F1 driver. in 2018. “It was a while before I signed, but in the end I didn’t lie to him, because I’m here and now at Ferrari,” he said years later, already wearing red.

It wasn’t the first white lie he told his father. As a child, Charles told Hervé that he didn’t feel well enough to go kart driving. “I told my dad I was sick so he could take me karting. I would drive until I ran out of gas and, on the way home, I would tell him: ‘This is what I want to do'”. It was very clear to me.

After Jules’ death, this new blow was very difficult to digest. That difficult time helped me. I became mentally stronger. Losing your father too soon will change you forever,” he explained years ago. But two days after his father’s death, Charles succeeded on the track: he took pole position and won Formula 2 race in Baku. “After the pole lap I felt bad, sitting in my car with my helmet on, because I was thinking about my father and it was hard”, he said then. And after the race, the emotion is overwhelming.

“Mentally I became stronger than ever. Losing your father so early in life is something that changes you forever,” he expressed a long time ago in ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’.

And in 2019, tragedy struck again. A Formula 2 accident at Spa took out his friend Anthoine Hubert. A day later, Charles Leclerc signed his first victory in F1 and dedicated it to the Frenchman: “We lost a friend and I want to dedicate my first victory to him, I grew up with Anthoine, we rode together. I can’t enjoy my first victory.”

Now, in 2024, sadness is once again accompanied by joy. It’s impossible not to get excited. He has fulfilled another dream he shared with his father. You want to go for the next one: the title. He is 31 points behind Verstappen and has a fast car that will look to win on some tracks, although for now, Red Bull and McLaren remain a step ahead on a bigger type of track.