F1 News
Leclerc on death of his father: 'He was my very biggest fan'
- GPblog.com
Charles Leclerc has already lost many loved ones in his life. Not only did the Monegasque lose his father, but his godfather Jules Bianchi and good friend Anthoine Hubert also died far too young. In the book "Le Prodige" (The Prodigy) by writer Rémi Boudal, the driver spoke about the grief, as quoted by Speedweek.com.
Charles Leclerc was still racing in Formula 2 when he lost his father to cancer. Hervé Leclerc died at the age of just 54. "You are totally unprepared for something like that," Leclerc told openly. "After the death of Jules, this new blow was very hard to digest. That difficult time helped me mature. I became mentally stronger. Losing your father so early changes you forever.''
Father Leclerc his biggest fan
Yet despite his grief, the now five-time race winner continued to race. His father would have loved to see him win. "My father was my biggest fan and he wanted me to perform as strongly as possible. I'm sure he would have wanted me to keep racing, I wanted to win for him."
'Bianchi would have gone to Ferrari '
Like Charles, good friend Jules Bianchi would have made the move to Ferrari after an apprenticeship at a minor team, in Bianchi's case Marussia. Sadly, Bianchi died in an on-track accident before he could make it to Ferrari. "I'm pretty sure Jules would have achieved more than me. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for him."
Great memories of Hubert
Even more recently, Leclerc lost another close friend: Anthoine Hubert. "We had very good moments together and also some lesser moments, that we fought with each other and things didn't end well," the Ferrari driver recalled. "But looking back, those are also very good memories." A day after Hubert died, Leclerc took his first win in Formula 1 at Spa.