Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc will compete with Scuderia Ferrari for the 2025 F1 season, still looking to win his first drivers’ championship.

Leclerc will embark on his seventh season with Ferrari in 2025, this time alongside seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. The Monegasque driver isn’t unfamiliar with having a legendary teammate alongside him, given his first two years at Ferrari were with Sebastian Vettel.

2024 was Leclerc’s most consistent yet, as he secured third in the drivers’ standings behind Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. He claimed two memorable wins in Monaco and Italy before taking a third at the Circuit of the Americas.

Leclerc will feel he’s prepared to go head-to-head with Verstappen for the title in 2025, provided Ferrari give him the tools to do so.

His F1 career started in 2018 with Sauber, after winning the Formula 3 and then the Formula 2 titles back-to-back. Immediately, Leclerc’s raw pace and adept racecraft were apparent during his rookie campaign, destroying experienced teammate Marcus Ericsson.

Leclerc was handed a promotion to Ferrari for 2019, replacing F1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen. While Vettel enjoyed an early edge, particularly in races, Leclerc soon found his feet.

He took back-to-back wins in Belgium and Italy, becoming the first Ferrari driver to win in front of the Tifosi since Fernando Alonso in 2010. Leclerc would have to wait until 2022 to win again as Ferrari were hit hard by a clarification to the rules made by the FIA which clamped down on their engine.

Even so, Leclerc’s 2020 campaign was one of his best in weak machinery, similarly to 2021, even if he was beaten on points by new teammate Carlos Sainz.

Ferrari nailed the start of the new rules in 2022, giving Leclerc a title-contending car. Leclerc won in Bahrain, Australia, and Austria. However, reliability cost him a guaranteed win in Spain and a possible one in Azerbaijan.

Strategy continued to be a key Ferrari weakness, costing Leclerc further wins in Monaco, Britain, and Hungary. Leclerc himself wasn’t faultless though, spinning out of the lead at the French Grand Prix.

Leclerc failed to win in 2023, with Sainz becoming the only non-Red Bull winner with a spectacular drive in Singapore. Still, Leclerc recovered from a slow start to beat his teammate in the standings again.

2024 proved to be his most consistent - and one that showed he’s ready to win a world championship. The arrival of Hamilton will test Leclerc once again - but it’s a challenge he’s ready for.