Let’s Discuss.

The Chrimer: 2014, Formula Renault.

Charles' karting days are over: in 2014, he graduates to single-seaters.

Single-seaters are known to be difficult to master; their aerodynamics, light weights and powerful engines mean they're both incredibly fast and difficult to control. Charles makes the jump to the category with British racing team Fortec Motorsports. His signing gets announced in November 2013 for the upcoming season.

By this point, Charles has been working with manager Nicolas Todt (the son of a hugely influential Ferrari/FIA boss) for a couple years. Racing isn't cheap: Todt is instrumental in financing his move to single-seaters.

This was critical to the viability of Charles' career. In 2021, Toto Wolff estimated that a "good go-karting season costs €250,000, an F4 season €500,000, and an F3 season €1 million" while speaking about the difficulties young drivers aiming for F1 have.

The Leclercs' aren't able to drop that kind of money on racing: Pascale is a hairdresser, and Hervé works for the family business: a small plastics company.

In 2021, Lorenzo says (awkwardly translated into English):

 “Every year, in karting, we said to ourselves that it was the last season. Charles handled the pressure, knowing that if he didn’t have results, it was over, and that, even if he had results, we weren’t. not sure to continue. Hervé, his father, tried to make it run by all possible means. I was at the national level in karting. Being lucid, I saw that it would be impossible for me to go to F1. So I stopped, because the family bet was to find solutions at all costs for Charles to succeed. Because he, at 11, was already standing out from the crowd, with drivers like Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly."

And from Arthur in the same interview:

"At 14, I played my first full championship. But immediately we had to stop for three years, because for my father it was too expensive to support Charles and me at the same time."

In a 2021 stream, Arthur expands on the difficulties:

"With my father I never traveled once. He didn't have the money for Charles' karting or for me. He did not have the money to go & see Charles in the race, actually. We were staying at home and following Charles in the computer."

(As a note, Charles would work with his uncle once he reached F1 to sponsor Arthur's career.)

In classic Charles fashion, he tried to put a positive spin on it in a 2020 interview:

"I have learned that from my father, who quite often left me alone on the race weekend so that I grew up on my own. I am trying to do the same with Arthur and so far he is doing a great job!"

The Leclerc family has a complicated history with racing: Hervé actually comes from a very successful Monaco family. His stepfather, Charles Manni, was the founder of a local company that manufactures car parts. Here is Hervé showing his F3 car to his stepfather:

And Hervé with his half-brother (/Charles' uncle) Thierry Manni--

However... while Hervé and Thierry fell in love with racing, their father did not.

Thierry said:

"I often read that Charles comes from a modest family, but that's not true. We were the biggest employer in Monaco, but my father held on to a certain number of values. In the family, we do not write blank checks. He put limits on his participation, Hervé gave what he could and, at one point, we even found ourselves faced with an impasse. This is where Nicolas Todt intervened in 2011 to help us, under the leadership of Jules Bianchi. "

Once Charles' career appears to be in jeopardy, Jules-- Todt's first signed driver-- insists that they meet.

Todt is impressed by the karter, and steps in. Usually, a manager attempts to finance a driver through securing sponsorships; in Charles' case, Todt puts the money up himself.

In 2019, Todt says:

"I signed Charles at 14. He should have stopped karting because he ran out of money. I decided to help him. I introduced him to Ferrari a few years ago and today he drives there. And no one can say that he got there just like that: he's there because we did the job. For me, someone like Charles is my greatest pride, the fact that he went there and delivered."

Todt would later expand on this:

"I love finding future stars and helping them make their dreams come true. I am the only manager who does it that way, that is my specialty. It's easy to say: you have to do this, you have to do that. As long as it's not your own money, you can give advice. You can say 'buy this house'. But do you say: 'Buy this house, we make 50/50?' Then it's a completely different thing. If I believe in someone, then I invest. Of course, I also try to find sponsors who help me. But if I don't find sponsors, I'm the one who has to invest. I did that with Jules [Bianchi], I did it with Charles, and I do it with drivers who I think are special."

With Todt's support, Charles is able to compete in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Championship.

It is worth noting, though, that single-seaters weren't the only thing Charles learned to drive in 2014:

Charles starts his season off by picking his number... 17, which was also the number Jules was racing under in F1 at the time:

Charles starts the season strong. Charles manages to set a category track record at preseason testing: Kartcom's article summarizing the day was simply titled "Charles Leclerc leaves everyone in his trail in Barcelona".

Charles is quoted, saying:

"I don’t think the tests could have gone any better. It’s incredible being a rookie and setting the fastest overall time! We still have plenty of work to do, although I have learned a lot. Listening to the engineers is the key to making progress quickly. And although it’s nice to be quickest, it is still only testing. The races themselves will be a different matter."

Jules sends out his well wishes for Charles' first race in Imola:

And Charles returns it:

Charles might be a rookie, but he impresses his team enough to where they run him in another series concurrently.

Formula Scout would summarize the season:

Leclerc entered Formula Renault 2.0 for his rookie single-season season, embarking on the Alps series for Fortec Motorsports. He quickly became a frontrunner, making the podium at round two at Pau and then twice again at Spa. At Monza he won both races, and followed that with more podiums to secure second place in the championship behind third-year FR2.0 racer Nyck de Vries. Some of Leclerc’s most impressive performances last year came in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 as a guest entry. He took part in six races and finished second in the last three of those, up against lots of drivers with multiple years of experience in the series.

His first win single-seater win is in Monza, where he has a perfect weekend: he also wins that second race.

Of course, in true Charles fashion, he couldn't stop himself from a little self-criticism after the race:

"My start was not perfect and I’ve lost a place. Than I’ve managed to recover it duelling with Isaakyan. When my team told me of the 10” penalty assigned to Riener, I just focused in keeping my pace. This is a very special day as this is my first win ever in singleseaters."

Charles would finish the season with 199 points, 2 wins, 7 podiums and 1 pole position.

Formula Scout would summarize his performance:

After several starring years on the world karting scene, Leclerc’s car debut season was a long awaited one and it lived up to expectations. A non-score at the Imola opener aside, Leclerc delivered a superb rookie season, maturing and improving round after round, which culminated in a spectacular double victory at Monza and saw a further five podium appearances throughout the campaign. A protege of Nicolas Todt’s All Road Management firm, he has also been superb in his guest Eurocup outings and the chief 2.0 series appears to be a logical next step – one he’s more than ready for. In fact, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him take a higher jump up the ladder than that. 

They were right: Charles would take his old karting rival Max Verstappen's now open F3 seat at Van Amersfoort Racing for the 2015 season.

As a final note, this year was also very tragic: Jules' accident would happen in October, on the same day as Charles' final race in Formula Renault.

I'm not going to go into the details, because it feels like it would be disrespectful: it was a tragedy, and it very clearly deeply affected Charles and his family. Jules was an incredible influence for Charles, both personally and professionally.

Through all of this, however, Charles continues into Formula 3.

But that's for the next chapter.

Charles Leclerc & Scuderia Ferrari - Wait For Me (reprise) from Hadestown musical

Sebastian Vettel & Lewis Hamilton: 12 years sharing podiums together ✰

SO ANYWAY, here are some people I adore and you should follow although you likely already do

@neonastronaut was the first to ever follow me on here, held in honor forever <3

@collarboen takes me to horny jail every hour of every day. pls ma’am, i have things to do

@bonocedes stans Bono, is therefore deemed an 11/10 human

@spideysatan steals my actual thoughts from my brain and posts them smh

@p1tstop made me care about W Series <3

@allgaslynobrakes nearly always completely unhinged by which i mean relatable

@kinghamilton makes me default like their every post tbh, v solid f1 (and euro 2020) takes

@storm3326 creates the most precious fan art. reason why talented people being talented is a thing, probably

@silvrhxnd consistently throws out one liners that give me whiplash in the best way

@electric-arc provides all things VB, a rare trade on this hell site, much appreciated

@ctolisso always has the freshest Lewis photos first, what a blessing to us all

@querencva is my soft!lewis ally (hugs and kisses on the nose for him!)

Thanks btw to everyone who has tagged me in tag games etc., I don’t often do them but I see you and I’m 🥰🥺

imagine you are holding roscoe🐶

fully comprehensive charles leclerc sexiest moments of 2020 recap

HIIIIII!!! I would like to ask about the Sewis Beekeeping fic please! 💚

HIIIIIIII!!!! I suppose I didn't give it a very inconspicuous name haha whoopsie This wip has had two versions now since the original one corrupted. Originally it was supposed to be released around the same time as Juppy space and Intertwined whoopsie again So basically this takes place post retirement (kind of. for seb at least.) Lewis retires from F1 for he first time when he's 41, but isn't done and comes back the next season. The second time he retires he's 45 and still doesn't know what he's doing, doesn't know what hes' searching for by retiring again. It's not because he's been pushed out, no, several teams have made it clear he has a seat if he wants it. Motorsports have been a good chunk of his life for several decades now; He doesn't know how to be still. He should be in Grove, getting fitted for a seat, his body is itching for it, burning all over; So why is he stood on the doorstep of Sebastian's Switzerland home? Sebastian lets him in, Sebastian always let's him in. Lewis has been here before, a few years ago when he'd retired the first time, Seb had called him, invited him to stay and hide from the fallout on his couch. Crashing on the couch had soon enough turned into long heated nights in Seb's sheets. They cooked together, showered together, walked the nature. Then, at the end of the year when he'd answered his phone to the offer of a seat, Seb hadn't begged him to stay, hadn't even asked, really. So, Lewis had gone, not because he didn't want Sebastian, but because he wanted racing more. They still talked over the next few years, but nothing special. Maybe that's why he's here, to see if Seb will still let him in, to make sure. Seb had never showed any signs of being angry at him. Sebastian lets him in again, keeps him busy doing all kinds of chores and tasks. He acts like Lewis hadn't left, like he hadn't abandoned him like that. The only reason that Lewis retired again is because people had been getting "worried" about him. Toto and Bono, who'd both retired years earlier, Susie, who took up the role of fia president, His mum and dad. They worry that he'll end up like Niki, never keeping any family or friends close, being alone. Sebastian hadn't had kept bees the first time Lewis had stayed here, but he walks Lewis through it, the care that they need, how gentle they really are. He makes Lewis build bee houses, and while he does, Lewis tries to reconcile if Retiring and settling down is what he really wants, or if it's what people are expecting him to want. He builds some pretty wonky bee homes, but Seb just laughs and admits that he didn't really need more, he just wanted to give Lewis something to do and he was running out of chores. (spoilers but Lewis doesn't really want to retire, not in the way that Sebastian has, so far away from racing, but he does want Sebastian. The reason Sebastian didn't ask him to stay is because he knows that Lewis is different from him, he knows that Lewis will most probably always be close to racing in some way, and he's okay with that. He knows that if Lewis was forced to stay and settle for too long, he would become miserable, so Seb encourages him to come and go freely. Think like.... Moomin and Snufkin....)

Ask me about my wips

Seb and Lewis 😁😁🤳

Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc Behind The Wheel || How good are their Spanish skills?

a.k.a. Sebastian singing “La Cucaracha”, and knowing the name of a mispronounced Mexican volcano