Charles Leclerc letting brother Arthur ‘find his own way’

Jamie Woodhouse
Charles Leclerc, right, with brother Arthur Leclerc, left. Germany, July 2019.

Charles Leclerc, right, walks with his younger brother Arthur Leclerc, left. Germany, July 2019.

Charles Leclerc always supports his younger brother Arthur with his personal life, but does not like to interfere with his on-track work.

Leclerc serves as the prime example of a Ferrari Driver Academy member’s route into Formula 1, having graduated as F2 champion to join Sauber in 2018, before then landing a Ferrari race seat from 2019.

Among Ferrari’s current crop of prospects is Charles’ younger brother Arthur, who is currently preparing for his second season in Formula 3 with Prema.

Charles is regarded as one of Formula 1’s brightest prospects for the future, already boasting two race wins and nine pole positions.

But when it comes to the racing stuff, Charles believes that his brother is better served creating his own career path.

Of course though, he is always there to help Arthur with any “personal things”.

“Arthur knows I’m there for any personal things he needs. But when it comes to racing, I prefer to let him find his own way and to make progress on his own, which I think is very important in this sport,” said Charles in an interview for the Official Ferrari Magazine.

But that does not mean that the pair are distant from a racing perspective, far from it.

Charles has regularly been seen supporting his younger brother from the paddock on his race weekends, while when Charles is in the cockpit, Arthur often helps by being an extra pair of eyes, spotting what Charles may miss from inside the car.

“Sometimes, during a race weekend, when Arthur is following my Formula 1 race on TV he spots things that maybe I’ve not noticed from inside the cockpit, and he lets me know, to try and help me, which is always nice,” said Charles.

“So, the support goes both ways.”

 

The brothers were extremely competitive growing up, which to this day has not diminished.

But with their three-year age gap no longer much of an advantage in adult life, 24-year-old Charles said it is not so easy to beat his 21-year-old brother now, whatever sport or game they are playing.

“Our relationship is the normal kind of relationship that you find between brothers when there’s not much age difference between them,” Charles revealed.

“We’ve always been competitive, especially when we were younger. When we were little, being three years younger than me, he always wanted to do the same things that I did.

“Whereas when I was 8 or 9 it was quite easy to beat him, as grown-ups that 3-year age advantage has disappeared so nowadays it’s really hard to get the better of him, especially at tennis or padel. The competitiveness between us is still very keen.”

 

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