THE FIRST STEPS IN KARTING AND THE ROLE OF HIS FATHER

In this interview, Leclerc also shares his memories of his first experience in karting, a passion that began by chance during a visit to the karting
track of Philippe Bianchi, the father of Jules Bianchi.

“I lied to my father and told him I wasn’t feeling well,” he remembers.
I told him I was sick, but it wasn't true, I just didn't want to go to school and he believed me, so he had to keep me with him.
Coincidentally, he was going to see his best friend, Philippe Bianchi, who was running a karting track at the time, an hour and a half from Monaco,
and I went with him. From that moment on, it was clear that I wanted to do this.”

Charles Leclerc also talks about the influence of Jules Bianchi, his mentor, and the impact of his tragic death in 2014.
The death of his father in 2017, which occurred two years after that of Jules, was a particularly difficult moment for him.
However, these trials strengthened his determination to succeed.

“The people I lost were the ones who wanted the best for me, and every time I asked myself what they would want me to do,
the answer came back pretty quickly: my father would just want me put on the helmet and let me go win races” he explains.