Formula 1: the intimacy of Charles Leclerc’s glamorous holiday in Monaco, far from Ferrari

Charles Leclerc jumps into the void heading for the Mediterranean Sea. With that image, start a 15 minute video which the Monegasque uploaded to his YouTube channel to share with his own 370 thousand subscribers how you spend 24 hours a day on your vacation. He does it in Monaco, his home, where he prepares for the second stage of the season, which will begin on the last weekend of August in Spa and which will include the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, where the Monegasque and the Scudería last won in 2019.

“Monza 2019 is the best memory I have. Going to Italy and winning made this day very special. I remember that I could not get subscriptions for my mother because the family doctor was in great demand. And she told me she was coming and I got her some nice seats in the grandstand “she says and she laughs, adding that she saw her” under the podium with all the fans, even though no one knew who she was. she “.

Leclerc’s statement fits into context: during a visit to the car collection of the Prince of Monaco. There are two that are owned by Leclerc: the Alfa Romeo with which he made his F1 debut and the Ferrari of victory in 2019.. “It’s the first time I’ve seen this beauty,” she says, looking at the first of them. “Actually, it’s mine. I bought my first F1 car, it was my dream that came true.” And he adds: “My other childhood dream was to win an F1 race and here is the other car I bought, the Ferrari 2019. It is in good hands, in the Prince collection, where they take care of it in the best way. “.

The 24 hours that Leclerc chose to share, second in the championship dominated by Max Verstappen but who was able to drive and which has nine races left in less than three months– started on Tennis Padel Soleil of Monaco, with his two brothers – also the driver Arthur, younger than Charles, and Lorenzo, the older and unknown – and his coach, Andrea Ferrari, who belonged to Jules Bianchi, his godfather and mentor and who died in an accident racing with F1 in Japan when he was 25 years old.

While the brothers rested, physical activity continued for Leclerc and with the personal trainer of the Ferrari Academy Tete de Chien, the peak with a panoramic view of Monaco. “They are the city and the country I love,” the 24-year-old reaffirms before going to Gyn Monte Carlo, where he trains daily.

“As a child you come home only to rest but then you realize how important training is. I go to the gym every day, it’s important and I feel the benefits. It also makes me feel good mentally, it makes me think about more things than just running “, she explains after a session that ends with cryotherapy treatment at Terme Marins Monte Carlo, where you immerse yourself in a cold sauna –at -109 ° C– for three minutes.

Leclerc’s hidden talent

Although the images do not show what happens during lunch, the afternoon of the Monegasque born on October 16, 1997 is still in his apartment with one of his hidden hobbies: plan. In front of a white piano with a sign with the words LOVE on it made up of red roses, the consecutive champion of GP3 and F2, he declares that he has started playing “during the block”.

“When we were kids, we had a piano and my younger brother spent hours playing it. But I didn’t have time to learn, although I liked to listen to it. And in lockdown, without much to do, I spent a lot of time in the simulator and then when I had free time, I spent it on the piano. And I love it and enjoy it, that’s when I can unplug from racing“, he confesses.

The music that emanates from the soft touch of the fingers on the keys is surprising; In truth, Leclerc has self-taught to play the piano and he does it very well, to the point that, according to him, after training, Andrea Ferrari asks him to “play and fall asleep” on the sofa in his apartment.

The yacht and the fun with friends (and with his girlfriend)

If anyone has thought of conquering the young Ferrari star, they can leave that illusion behind because Charlotte breast it has already done so. She too was born in Munich despite the fact that she is two years younger than Leclerc – on September 19, 1999 -, she is a model and Instagram influencer, stylist and studies architecture.

Although they met through mutual friends shortly before the pandemic, she was rumored to be a friend of the Italian model Giada Giani, the driver’s girlfriend from 2015 to 2019 when he left her “to focus exclusively on Ferrari”. Even worse were the rumors that surfaced this year when Sine was related to Pierre Gaslyanother of the F1 drivers and friend of Leclerc.

In the video, however, that voice was banned, because there Leclerc had the task of telling that his girlfriend is an important part of his life and that, even if he arrived late, he would accompany him on the yacht, where he was with his brother Lorenzo and his best friends. Anchored in the La Mala Reservethe pilot’s “favorite seat”.

“Let’s go swimming,” he blurts out before jumping off the top of the yacht, which he does purchased in 2020, it has a value of 2 million euros and was baptized “Monza”– and snorkeling. So they get on a smaller but very fast boat with their big brother. “My younger brother and my mother couldn’t come but my girlfriend is coming. Time to relax. I feel so lucky: I do what I love and I have my family,” she notes, who Despite his youth, he imagines a future as a father of “three children”.

During those 24 hours, which end at night with a Leclerc who dares to be affectionate with his girlfriend in front of the camera, he too arrives the memory of Hervé Leclerc. “My father helped me to be where I am”tells of who died shortly before his son won in Baku in Formula 2, in 2017, and who he honored this year on his helmet during the French GP, a country where the Monegasque did most of his training in karting.

Three weeks of vacation and a great challenge: to bring Ferrari back to first place

Just as he dreamed, first, of arriving in Formula 1 and then of winning a race, What keeps Charles Leclerc awake now is winning a championship and doing it with Ferrariwhich has already been 15 years since Kimi Raikkonen last joined him in 2007. Surprisingly, after many years of struggling with the car, the squad competitive from the start of the championship, which the Monegasque was also able to lead.

However, in the last few races Max Verstappen took advantage of improvements at Red Bull to knock him out of pole position. And, despite the victory in Austria on 10 July, Leclerc did not enjoy himself in France – where he crashed – much less in Austria, where he was the leader but Ferrari made a strategic mistake and left him without a podium.

Many would think that this time up to the Belgian Grand Prix, the last weekend of August, it would be used by Ferrari to make modifications to a car that had reliability problems in recent tests. But Mattia Binotto, top manager of the team, excludes it: “There is nothing to change”.

“I think it’s always a question of trust, learning, development, experience development, skill development,” he said after the Hungarian Grand Prix when asked what should happen to reduce. the distance of 80 points that Verstappen brings to Leclerc and the 97 of Red Bull to Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship, the one won by Mercedes in the last eight occasions.

“I think (Leclerc) is building for the team and for himself, and he sees each race as a unique opportunity to win.“He added despite the Monegasque’s fifth place in the last Grand Prix before the break, where Carlos Sainz was fourth and the victory went to Verstappen, escorted by Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

“The balance of this first part of the season for Ferrari can only be positiveeven if the disappointment of Hungary remains and we will have to understand how to intervene so that it does not happen again “, said Binotto.

But he reiterated: “The objectives remain unchanged. We want to be competitive in every race and try to win every race. We will come back with that desire ”. “We are all winning and losing together, the last race was not very good, but I think there was a lot of potential. I think we should focus on why first [de la falta de velocidad en Hungría]face it and come back even stronger “, he concluded in his latest public statements.