Charles Leclerc: A Biography

From acclaimed journalist Adam Hay-Nicholls, the very first biography of rising star Charles Leclerc, published to mark the start of the 2023 Formula One season.

Few of the drivers on the F1 grid have the racing pedigree of Charles Leclerc. Widely regarded as one of the sport’s hottest prospects, he was crowned F3 and then F2 champion in back-to-back seasons before he made his F1 debut with Sauber in 2018. Now firmly established as Ferrari’s great hope, following in the footsteps of legends Alberto Ascari, Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher, Leclerc has his eyes set on becoming world champion.

Born in Monaco to a family of comparatively modest means, Leclerc remembers playing with toy cars on a friend’s balcony as the best drivers in the world whizzed around the Monte Carlo circuit on the streets below. This early experience inspired him to get behind the wheel, encouraged by his father Hervé, and so began his meteoric rise in the sport. Along the way, he lost his father, his godfather and his best friend - all racing drivers - and this gave Leclerc the inner steel to become a winner.

Writer Adam Hay-Nicholls, who has spent much of his career in the Formula One paddock, provides the inside track on this rising star, recounting how he has taken the racing world by storm. And as Leclerc’s Ferrari is beginning to fire on all cylinders, will he beat his old rival and adversary Max Verstappen to the world title?

Born in Winchester, England, in 1981, Adam Hay-Nicholls attended his first motor race at Brands Hatch in 1989 and has worked in Formula One as a journalist since 2005, initially for The Red Bulletin. He has been the F1 correspondent for the UK’s Metro newspaper since 2006, and additionally writes about cars and luxury travel for titles which include GQ, Country Life, the Sunday Telegraph and The Sunday Times Magazine.