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a searchable collection of articles, interviews & posts

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Charles has his first race weekend fan forum in Australia. He throws out his first "it's like this" for the F1 media.

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Charles' car breaks down during a drivers parade in 2018.

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PRESS CONFERENCE: 2011 CIK-FIA Academy Trophy

Interviewer: Well, Charles Leclerc, you came to the event leading the championship but it didn't go all your own way, did it? And at the start of the first race this afternoon, it looked like a disaster! What happened?

Charles: Uh, at the first start a driver do an error and go into me and I go out and I lose the chain. So the time for put the chain, the other was taking the start. I tried to catch up the others but not enough time to take, to retake my place. So I start last, I did six. So it was not bad. And after we take 10 seconds of penalty, we take 10 seconds of penalty. So I start, I finish 11 and from 11, I win, it was a really good race but it was hard cause [...] was much more faster than us, but he do an error and I have the possibilities to overtake. And I didn't have to.

Interviewer: Just tell me at that incident when you lost your chain, did you think I'm going to lose this championship?

Charles: Uh, not to think that I will lose this Championship but say me that, uh I had to, to go fast for put the chain and go for, take my place for catch up.

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PRE-RACE INTERVIEW: Charles before the 2011 CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy at Sarno

Interviewer: Charles, ou come to this meeting with the advantage in the championship lead. Do you feel confident to go all the way to win this title?

Charles: Uh, Confident? I hope to win this. I will do all my best. I have a really good mechanic. The engine is good, so I think we can do it. I just have to continue to work a lot and I think all will be ok, but the race is not finished and we will know if it will be good on Sunday.

Interviewer: We know that Ben Barnicoat is a very good driver. I guess when you're racing, you're going to be thinking 'where is he'? Because that is the key challenge.

Charles: Yeah, for sure. He will be in front for sure because he is a really good driver. We will see at the race after the race is the race, we will see.

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The press conference of the 2012 European KF2 Championship at PF International was held without an official Champion as, further to an appeal lodged by the Entrant of Max Verstappen (NDL), the Driver who had scored the largest number of Championship points, no one yet knew officially who would be European Champion. Since the regulations did not allow Max Verstappen to participate in this press conference, Ben Barnicoat (GBR) and Charles Leclerc (MCO), respectively 2nd and 3rd in the unofficial classifications of the Championship, were thus the only competitors who answered the journalists’ questions.

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ARTICLE: "Sauber's Pujolar has no doubts about Leclerc's true potential" (F1i, 2018)

Xevi Pujolar, Sauber's head of trackside engineering, says Charles Leclerc is definitely the real deal and an F1 world champion in the making.

For the second race in succession, the 20-year-old rookie scored a top-10 finish for the Swiss outfit following a solid drive in last Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.

The close working relationship between the driver and the engineer puts Pujolar in the perfect spot to assess the Monegasque's entry into F1. And the Spaniard just can't offer enough praise.

"He is a potential champion. Definitely," he told El Mundo Deportivo newspaper.

"The way he is very demanding with himself, I've seen in other drivers like him. He does everything to the maximum and until he does, he's not happy. And he wants the same from those around him.

"They're the kind of people who ultimately win because they're always looking for their limits," Pujolar added, who previously guided Max Verstappen's first steps in F1 with Toro Rosso.

"He has many things I have seen in other great drivers, but I prefer not to compare. What I can say is that if the car improves he would do great results."

Leclerc, who won the F2 championship last year, remains contracted to Ferrari as a Scuderia junior driver. And Pujolar is convinced that if he is provided a winning car, the young charger can deliver the goods.

"Okay, at some of the first races he made mistakes, but that's normal. You arrive from Formula 2 where you've won everything and find that everyone is a champion," he says.

"So at the beginning it's a shock. You think 'How is that driver as fast as me?' But once this type of driver knows how to regulate their potential, everything starts to happen.

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Charles is helped with his tie at the 2011 CIK-FIA Karting Awards.

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Will: The question everybody has in this paddock right now, and it is providing the majority of the column inches, is what happens to this team's young charge the majority of people here see as a potential future world champion in terms of that second, and thus far unsigned, red seat next to Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari? Seb today said Charles shouldn't worry about rushing himself into that seat and there's certainly a vibe in this paddock that he shouldn't. He has no need to- [laughs] just talking about you. Are you going to rush to Ferrari?

Charles: What?

Will: Ah, we've already asked you this? We've already done the interview today. I'm so sorry. Are you getting sick of being asked about it yet?

Charles: Bah. Not this type of question, really.

Will: It's nuts though, right?

Charles: What? Yeah, it is.

Will: It's got to feel a bit crazy.

Charles: What?

Will: got to feel a bit crazy, like everyone's talking about it already.

Charles: Yeah, definitely. But for now it's not realistic, as I was saying. But yeah, I'll try to do the job here first.

Will: You've completely thrown me. I'll get back to it. Thanks man. So yeah. Yes. Him. Interview now.

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Will: Lewis has been announced at Mercedes, meaning one Mercedes seat has gone, probably the second as well. Red Bull is pretty much stacked up. Do you know where you're going to be driving next year yet?

Charles: No, I'm extremely sorry to not bring anything new yet. I hope that I will be soon, but no, for now, I have no news.

Will: Is it difficult to keep focus on the job at hand when so much is being written about you?

Charles: It is a little bit, but I don't know if it's natural or whatever. But, uh, once I am at the track and that I need to focus on the job, it becomes quite naturally for me to focus fully on the job I have to do and to extract off my head anything that, uh, that are rumors or talks.

Will: Do you read any of it away from the track?

Charles: [Laughs]. I do.

Will: What's the, what's the best thing that you've seen or the thing that surprised you the most?

Charles: Ah, I don't know. Um, I, it's always nice to see Ferrari and Leclerc in the same article and that will never change. But on the other hand, for now, there has been no talks. So, but it's always good to read an article like this.

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Charles wins the 2019 Italian Grand Prix.

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Charles gets his first pole at the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix.

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Charles hugs Nicholas Todt, the man who stepped in when Charles was about to quit karting as a child as a result of financial difficulties, after winning his first Formula 1 race at the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix.

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Charles and Hervé, as posted by Hugo Meunier.

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CHIBRARY RACE IN REVIEW 2019, Round 1: Australia / Race

The 2019 season starts in Australia. Ferrari says Vettel is their top dog this year, but a strong performance from Charles-- and an order to slow down being questioned-- makes it clear that it won't be that easy for Maranello.

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CHIBRARY RACE IN REVIEW 2019, Round 1: Australia / Qualifying