#chrimer

[vegasgrandprix]

a little piarles primer, part i: the karting years

Charles and Pierre have known each other for almost as long as they've both been karting competitively. In a 2022 interview with Bon Entendeur, Pierre discusses how their mutual dream of reaching F1 affected their friendship as they grew up:

"My best friend on the grid is Charles. We're lucky enough to have been friends since we were very young. I remember the Monaco Grand Prix; it must have been 2005. I went to his place in Monaco. We watched the Grand Prix together. And I don't know why, I have this memory on his couch at his place, my parents, his parents. Everything revolved around Formula 1 and we were watching the Grand Prix saying we want to be there… That's going to be us. We want to race the Monaco Grand Prix in Formula 1. And we know very well that there is perhaps a 0.01% chance that one of us will get there. We are best friends and both of us said 'we want to, we want to do it!' Maybe it'll be you and I'll be happy for you but I want it to be me. [laughs] Today, 15 years later, we are both on the grid racing the Grand Prix, him for Ferrari, I for AlphaTauri. It's true that the probability when we were young of one of us making it was low whereas both of us making it, it was almost impossible."

Pierre starts karting when he is nine years old. He meets Charles that year and writes about racing in Menton with the younger boy in his karting blog:

“It was my first race in town. The track was great around the palm trees, the beach was behind the pits. Nice to go swimming between 2 races. I finished 3rd in practice behind my friends: Estéban and Charles. Charles is Monegasque, he already knew the circuit from the previous year. I start second in the Prefinal, and at the second corner, my rear wheel gets caught in the wall and PAFF!!! Accident. The 14 karts arriving behind me hooked me. I had a little pain and my kart even more than me. The shaft was bent in 3 places, my steering column dead and so were my tie rods. My father had to do a lot of mechanics for me to make the Final starting last. I moved up to 7th by doing the maximum, I was a little disappointed. For fun, we did a lap of honor with my friends applauded by the crowd.”

Sixteen years later-- in an interview for the 2022 French Grand Prix-- Pierre would talk about this race again:

"It was a golden generation... It really was. That generation was five years older than us and then you had our generation, with Esteban, Charles... When you look back, it's insane. I actually talked about this with Charles recently. We had dinner in Canada and we were saying how crazy it was. There's a picture, it was my first season competing, and we were nine years old. We were racing in Menton I think, and it's me, Esteban and Charles, in the lowest category you have in karting at that time and there we were, three F1 drivers together, from the same country, doing the same race. The probability of that happening... If you had said, those three guys will be in Formula 1 in 10 to 15 years, it's just unthinkable."

Although they were competing against each other, Charles and Pierre were quick to befriend each other. In S1 of Drive to Survive, Pierre says:

Our first race with Charles was probably 2005. I remember we got on really well straight away. In my opinion you can have good friends in Formula 1, you just need to know how to separate what happens off track and on track.

Charles would expand on this in the same episode:

 I know Pierre since such a long time. We started our karting careers together, we go on holidays together. And I think he is probably one of the only drivers that I can call a good friend out of racing, which is very rare in this sport.

(All of the Piarles karting parts of DTS.)

Their friendship was not just limited to the race track as children: their families would also vacation with each other, something both drivers often reminiscence about in interviews:

Interviewer: Who is the nicest colleague you have? Charles: The one I am closest with, who is a real friend, is Pierre Gasly. We used to go on vacation together when we were younger. Interviewer: Did you also go karting together? Charles: Yes. Our families have always been very close. We have a special relationship. - Charles in a September 2022 Abbiamo un Rapporto Special

“I get along with the guys I race with. With Verstappen or with Lando Norris… but if I have to choose a friend, it’s Pierre Gasly. We’ve known each other since we were six, we raced each other and we went on holidays together, our bond is particularly strong.” - Charles in a 2021 Corriere interview

"Pierre, we know each other since a long, long time. We used to go on holidays together with our parents and we did quite a bit of mess when we were children." - Charles, after Pierre's Monza win

(And speaking of mess:

Pierre: Ask him how it ended when we played guitar hero? Charles: Guitar hero... you see that was a video game where I was actually good! Pierre: There was a cemetery of guitars at Charles' house when I came for afternoon snacks. You know how some rock stars smash guitars on the ground? I think every time Charles finished one song, he was smashing his! Charles: No no no! That was when I was losing, when I was missing a note. Doigby: So how many broken controllers, Charles? Charles: Nah you see I calmed down, with age I calmed down. Pierre: Yeah that was a scandal, I remember he had a box... Charles: Oh come on, you probably had one or two [destroyed controllers] too! - Pierre and Charles, playing video games online.

What's the story behind the "Calamar" nickname? And why is Charles "petit calamardo"? "It goes back to a long time ago when we were kids, like, nine, ten years old. We would go to holidays together and spend more time. I don't know. It just came, like one day we decided to call each other calamar, which is not really such a beautiful nickname but yeah it was just for fun. We were kids and we were laughing. And actually, we have many other nicknames because we were teammates also in karting and we spent alot, a lot of time together. So, a lot of nicknames came alongside all this time. And this kind of stayed with us." - Pierre, during a Reddit AMA.

Their families are also very close. Pascale Leclerc constantly reposts Pierre's successes to her facebook. Along with this, Pierre's dad has also talked those karting days, focusing on how Charles-- and the rest of the Leclercs-- really became part of their lives forever:

"I was relieved when I saw him walking out of that crash [Monza 2020]. Charles is part of the family. We've known him since he was nine and when he started in karting with Pierre. Then they've done their first cup together in Magny-Cours and then they met each other again in Menton at a race organized by Hervé Leclerc and Philippe Bianchi. It was a track near the beach. It's during that time when I really started bonding with the Leclerc family. I still remember Herve bringing some chocolate to Pierre after the podium, because he had finished second. My child was so happy about it. Charles is a year younger. They raced together, been together in the same team Sidokart for a year. Anthoine, Esteban, Charles and Pierre were always on the same track, competing together so of course us, the parents were always together as well. When the races were in England Charles was sleeping at our place and when the races were in Italy, Pierre was sleeping at Charles's place. Then Pierre moved to F4. I don't think there have ever been a big rivalry between them even though their careers were similar. Charles is part of the family probably even more since Hervé passed away. Our door will always be open for him and he knows.”

(Herve and Charles hugging after a race; Pierre's father can be seen to the back left of Herve.)

In 2010, Charles and Pierre had an opportunity to be teammates for the first-- and currently only-- time. They both drove in Sodikart, in what would be Pierre's last karting season. Pierre would jump into single-seaters the next year, while Charles would kart an additional two before moving up. Sodikart would summarize their time together on the team:

Pierre won the French KF3 Championship in 2009 before finishing 2nd in the European Championship, 3rd in the Monaco Kart Cup and 4th in the World Cup the following year, still in KF3 (Junior). Moving to cars very young, he finished 3rd in the French F4 Championship in 2011 and won the FR 2.0 Eurocup in 2013 for his second season in Formula Renault. He took 2nd place in FR 3.5 V8 in 2014. A development driver for Toro Rosso F1 in 2016, he won a major title in GP2 where he was racing for the second year. A pure Monegasque, Charles Leclerc is a naturally very fast driver equipped with a racing intelligence that makes him outstanding. He rarely makes mistakes and knows how to seize the opportunities to go beyond. Very determined, only victory interests him. Winner in the final round and French vice-champion in Minime with Sodi in 2008, he won the French Cadet Championship and the Bridgestone Cup the following year. Racing with the Sodi Racing Team in 2010, he won the Monaco Kart Cup in KF3 and finished 2nd in the French Championship behind Pierre.

>part2

[vegasgrandprix]

Welcome to my Chrimer (Charles Primer), where I will try to go through Charles' racing career year-by-year.

This is Part I: 2014, Formula Renault.

Charles' karting days are over: in 2014, he graduates to single-seaters.

Single-seaters are known to be difficult to master; their aerodynamics, light weights and powerful engines mean they're both incredibly fast and difficult to control. Charles makes the jump to the category with British racing team Fortec Motorsports. His signing gets announced in November 2013 for the upcoming season.

By this point, Charles has been working with manager Nicolas Todt (the son of a hugely influential Ferrari/FIA boss) for a couple years. Racing isn't cheap: Todt is instrumental in financing his move to single-seaters.

This was critical to the viability of Charles' career. In 2021, Toto Wolff estimated that a "good go-karting season costs €250,000, an F4 season €500,000, and an F3 season €1 million" while speaking about the difficulties young drivers aiming for F1 have.

The Leclercs' aren't able to drop that kind of money on racing: Pascale is a hairdresser, and Hervé works in a small plastic company.

In 2021, Lorenzo says (awkwardly translated into English):

 “Every year, in karting, we said to ourselves that it was the last season. Charles handled the pressure, knowing that if he didn’t have results, it was over, and that, even if he had results, we weren’t. not sure to continue. Hervé, his father, tried to make it run by all possible means. I was at the national level in karting. Being lucid, I saw that it would be impossible for me to go to F1. So I stopped, because the family bet was to find solutions at all costs for Charles to succeed. Because he, at 11, was already standing out from the crowd, with drivers like Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly."

And from Arthur in the same interview:

"At 14, I played my first full championship. But immediately we had to stop for three years, because for my father it was too expensive to support Charles and me at the same time."

In a 2021 stream, Arthur expands on the difficulties:

"With my father I never traveled once. He didn't have the money for Charles' karting or for me. He did not have the money to go & see Charles in the race, actually. We were staying at home and following Charles in the computer."

(As a note, Charles would work with his uncle once he reached F1 to sponsor Arthur's career.)

In classic Charles fashion, he tried to put a positive spin on it in a 2020 interview:

"I have learned that from my father, who quite often left me alone on the race weekend so that I grew up on my own. I am trying to do the same with Arthur and so far he is doing a great job!"

The extended family dynamics are a little complicated: Pascale actually comes from a very successful Monaco family. Her father, Charles Manni, was the founder of a local company that manufactures car parts. Here is Hervé showing his F3 car to his future father-in-law:

There are a lot of rumors about the family dynamic.

They appear to be very good childhood friends; at some point-- after Pascale divorces Lorenzo's father-- Hervé marries Pascale, adopts Lorenzo, and has Charles (named after his new in-law) and Arthur. That's as gossipy as I'm willing to get, but there appears to be a lot of rumors circulating Monaco message boards about family tension. Either way, the family connection wasn't any help.

Charles' uncle, Thierry Manni, said:

"I often read that Charles comes from a modest family, but that's not true. We were the biggest employer in Monaco, but my father held on to a certain number of values. In the family, we do not write blank checks. He put limits on his participation, Hervé gave what he could and, at one point, we even found ourselves faced with an impasse. This is where Nicolas Todt intervened in 2011 to help us, under the leadership of Jules Bianchi. "

Once Charles' career appears to be in jeopardy, Jules-- Todt's first signed driver-- insists that they meet.

Todt is impressed by the karter, and steps in. Usually, a manager attempts to finance a driver through securing sponsorships; in Charles' case, Todt puts the money up himself.

In 2019, Todt says:

"I signed Charles at 14. He should have stopped karting because he ran out of money. I decided to help him. I introduced him to Ferrari a few years ago and today he drives there. And no one can say that he got there just like that: he's there because we did the job. For me, someone like Charles is my greatest pride, the fact that he went there and delivered."

Todt would later expand on this:

"I love finding future stars and helping them make their dreams come true. I am the only manager who does it that way, that is my specialty. It's easy to say: you have to do this, you have to do that. As long as it's not your own money, you can give advice. You can say 'buy this house'. But do you say: 'Buy this house, we make 50/50?' Then it's a completely different thing. If I believe in someone, then I invest. Of course, I also try to find sponsors who help me. But if I don't find sponsors, I'm the one who has to invest. I did that with Jules [Bianchi], I did it with Charles, and I do it with drivers who I think are special."

With Todt's support, Charles is able to compete in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Championship.

It is worth noting, though, that single-seaters weren't the only thing Charles learned to drive in 2014:

Charles starts his season off by picking his number... 17, which was also the number Jules was racing under in F1 at the time:

Charles starts the season strong. Charles manages to set a category track record at preseason testing: Kartcom's article summarizing the day was simply titled "Charles Leclerc leaves everyone in his trail in Barcelona".

Charles is quoted, saying:

"I don’t think the tests could have gone any better. It’s incredible being a rookie and setting the fastest overall time! We still have plenty of work to do, although I have learned a lot. Listening to the engineers is the key to making progress quickly. And although it’s nice to be quickest, it is still only testing. The races themselves will be a different matter."

Jules sends out his well wishes for Charles' first race in Imola:

And Charles returns it:

Charles might be a rookie, but he impresses his team enough to where they run him in another series concurrently.

Formula Scout would summarize the season:

Leclerc entered Formula Renault 2.0 for his rookie single-season season, embarking on the Alps series for Fortec Motorsports. He quickly became a frontrunner, making the podium at round two at Pau and then twice again at Spa. At Monza he won both races, and followed that with more podiums to secure second place in the championship behind third-year FR2.0 racer Nyck de Vries. Some of Leclerc’s most impressive performances last year came in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 as a guest entry. He took part in six races and finished second in the last three of those, up against lots of drivers with multiple years of experience in the series.

His first win single-seater win is in Monza, where he has a perfect weekend: he also wins that second race.

Of course, in true Charles fashion, he couldn't stop himself from a little self-criticism after the race:

"My start was not perfect and I’ve lost a place. Than I’ve managed to recover it duelling with Isaakyan. When my team told me of the 10” penalty assigned to Riener, I just focused in keeping my pace. This is a very special day as this is my first win ever in singleseaters."

Charles would finish the season with 199 points, 2 wins, 7 podiums and 1 pole position. Formula Scout would summarize his performance:

After several starring years on the world karting scene, Leclerc’s car debut season was a long awaited one and it lived up to expectations. A non-score at the Imola opener aside, Leclerc delivered a superb rookie season, maturing and improving round after round, which culminated in a spectacular double victory at Monza and saw a further five podium appearances throughout the campaign. A protege of Nicolas Todt’s All Road Management firm, he has also been superb in his guest Eurocup outings and the chief 2.0 series appears to be a logical next step – one he’s more than ready for. In fact, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him take a higher jump up the ladder than that. 

They were right: Charles would take his old karting rival Max Verstappen's now open F3 seat at Van Amersfoort Racing for the 2015 season.

As a final note, this year was also very tragic: Jules' accident would happen in October, on the same day as Charles' final race in Formula Renault.

I'm not going to go into the details, because it feels like it would be disrespectful: it was a tragedy, and it very clearly deeply affected Charles and his family. Jules was an incredible influence for Charles, both personally and professionally.

Through all of this, however, Charles continues into Formula 3.

But that's for the next chapter.

[vegasgrandprix]

The Chrimer, Part II: 2015, Formula 3 European Championship

Everyone loves a good rivalry.

Charles and Max's karting history could-- and probably will-- be their own primer, but for Charles' 2015 season only one part really matters: Max jumps from F3 to F1. This casts a long shadow on Charles as his childhood karting rival.

Charles spends most of the year getting asked about seeing Max compete at the highest level of motorsport, like in this segment from a South China Morning Post article about the 2015 Macau Grand Prix:

For his part, however, Leclerc is keeping the focus on what’s right in front of him, rather than on what the horizon might offer as he sets out to tackle the tricky Guia circuit for the first time, knowing, of course, the greats of racing who have gone out there before him and still with comparisons to former VAR – and current Formula One – star Max Verstappen ringing in his ears. “I am taking things step by step,” says Leclerc. “I want to arrive in Formula One when I am more than ready and Formula 3 is a good choice in that I can learn and develop. And I raced Max all through my karting years and we fought each other at the finish, so I have always had the comparisons with him and I am okay with them.”

The jump to F3 is a last minute surprise: Charles had originally been tipped for a full-time Eurocup spot. Eurocup would have been more of the Formula Renault 2.0 level of competition Charles had experienced the previous year; F3 was considered a promotion.

In an interview, Charles was asked why he decided on F3 instead of Eurocup:

"After the season of last year, my manager and I thought that it would be better to jump to F3! Firstly, there are 3 races per weekend and 11 weekends so we drive a lot and so we gain a lot of experience! Then loads of drivers were planning to do it! And I felt really good in the car and the tests went well."

Surprisingly, Charles picks to race for Dutch team Van Amersfoort in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship like Max did the previous year. He essentially steps into his former rival's spot, replacing Max as team leader and taking his former engineer. This was allegedly on Jos Verstappen's suggestion, but there isn't much reference to that connection out there that I could find.

This doesn't help the comparisons.

Formula Scout-- in their 2015 Driver Profile of Charles-- would write:

Leclerc marked himself out as a real prospect in karting – so much so he topped our 2012 ‘karters to watch‘ feature, ahead of Verstappen. But it’s never a foregone conclusion that a successful karter will make a successful car racer. [...] Those performances suggested he would be capable of stepping up to F3, particularly as his old rival Verstappen had made it look easy and didn’t have the benefit of a year of car racing experience. And so he has proven to be. It’s still early days, but Leclerc has so far been the class of a large crop of rookies and taken the fight to proven F3 winners with multiple years of experience already under their belt. His early performances are on a par with what last year’s star rookies Esteban Ocon and Verstappen were doing – in fact, his record of two wins and five podiums from the first six races replicates the 2014 champion’s start. If he keeps it up, he will deserve to be held in the same high esteem as them a few months down the line.

They would ultimately summarize Charles' future as so:

While he’s got plenty in common with his old karting rival and Van Amersfoort F3 predecessor Verstappen, a lesser reputation and sensible management mean he’s unlikely to be making the jump straight up to F1 next year. He will therefore need to sustain this impressive form into an intermediate category like GP2 in order to make the grade.

Even with the comparisons to Esteban and Max, Charles still appears to be able to joke with both at the beginning of the season.

This lightheartedness would be needed, especially when Max was the special F1 driver guest for one of Charles' podiums:

Charles would start the season strong. As a rookie, Charles would top the morning running at the pre-event test of the opening round weekend by nearly half a second.

In true Charles fashion, he's unable to take the W:

"A good day," said Leclerc at the end of the test, after reviewing the results and drawing conclusions. “We have learned a lot, both about the set-up for qualifying and for the race. However, this does not mean that I am automatically one of the leading drivers this weekend as well, testing and racing are two different things. But needless to say, it's my goal to do it."

He would bring this momentum into winning in Silverstone, Hockenheim, Spa-Francorchamps and Nuremberg. I find the races themselves a little dull to break down race-by-race, but if you're interested.. an anon has provided video of every race here.

Charles would explain that:

“We arrived at the first race quite confident but obviously there were still had doubts from some people who didn’t know me when I arrived for testing. We were really fast from the first race which was a bit of a surprise because I was a rookie among all these experienced drivers so they didn’t really expect me. But from another point of view we were prepared, we worked hard and after testing it wasn’t that much of a surprise for us, how we went. We were quite confident.”

However... Charles' season would become inconsistent after a crash in Zandvoort with Lance Stroll would damage his chassis in a way that could never be correctly repaired.

Jules would pass the next week.

Charles would only podium once more during the remaining season, five months later in Macau.

He is quoted as saying:

“It is a good result, but I am never happy when I'm not first. Since I was a child I was never happy when I wasn't first. So, it is the still the same.”

Charles would end up finishing the season in fourth place behind Felix Rosenquist, Antonio Giovinazzi, and Jake Dennis. He'd still have 4 wins, 13 podiums, 3 pole positions and 6 fastest laps, making him the rookie champion over future F1 competitors George Russell, Lance Stroll and Alexander Albon.

Formula Scout would summarize his season:

VAR, like most, couldn’t keep up with Prema in the later part of the season but Leclerc seemed to lose some individual sparkle too. That’s forgivable for a teenage rookie though, particularly with the early-season highs becoming impossible to match. And no young racer should have to say goodbye to a life-long friend and mentor mid-season. Leclerc might not have been champion but he was F3’s standout talent in 2015.

Even with the issues in the later half of the season, he was still tapped to go into GP3 with Todt's team, ART Grand Prix. And he had some lighthearted moments:

(Behind the scenes footage here.)

One of the most lasting legacies of this season, though, is how it would set up the rest of Charles' career.

Charles did go into 2015 with very few sponsors outside of Todt. In a pre-season assessment, Formula Scout summarizes his off-track relationships:

No doubt assisted by the Bianchis’ tutelage, Leclerc signed with Todt Jr’s All Road Management firm in 2011. At present, Leclerc has no ties to F1 teams, but through his work with Felipe Massa, Pastor Maldonado and Bianchi, Todt has dealt with most of them and will be very well-placed to get his protege a role when the time comes. A potential stumbling point is that most F1 teams are already overflowing with some serious sub-F1 prospects, but if he continues to impress as he’s doing at the moment, they could begin falling over each other to find a space for him. Funding-wise, Leclerc benefits from partners usually tied to Todt’s projects, and watch maker Richard Mille (currently a sponsor of the Lotus F1 team) is his loyal main backer. And you’d imagine that being billed as a future F1 star from Monaco could well tempt some further future investment.

Lance Stroll would spend most of his single-seaters career against Charles as the Ferrari-backed driver until 2015, when he left to take a development driver role with Williams.

By this point, the Ferrari Driver Academy was heavily scrutinized to the point where it was speculated that they would do away with the initiative entirely. While Red Bull's junior program had brought Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kyvat to its senior team, no driver from the FDA had successfully made the jump. At the end of 2015, Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene decided to appoint a new head and restructure the program entirely.

Charles was rumored to be the next addition to the Ferrari Driver Academy in November 2015 as part of these changes; by December, articles were already talking as if the signing was inevitable.

In 2020, Charles would talk about visiting Maranello for the first time-- not as a friend of Jules'-- that year with his father:

I went with my father to Maranello (the home of Ferrari). I was 17 years young and extremely shy. I was scared because I didn't know if I was good enough to be included in the programme.

He was. He would end up impressing Ferrari in his two days of testing.

They would announce Charles as a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2016, setting up both his next year and the rest of his career.

[vegasgrandprix]

(previous parts here)

In 2016, Charles returns to ART Grand Prix as one of their GP3 drivers. This would be the first (and only) time he'd race under their name in single-seaters; previously, he had karted for the team in 2012 and 2013.

ART GP is one of the more elite feeder series teams. By the time Charles joins the roster, they've come off of winning five teams' championships and three drivers' titles in just six seasons.

Their success isn't the only reason why this partnership is advantageous to Charles. It also puts him with some familiar faces. ART GP was co-founded by two men that would be very integral to Charles' career: Nicholas Todt and Frederic Vasseur. Todt would be the manager that saved Charles' career in karts, and Vasseur would later be Charles' first F1 Team Principal.

In the press release, Charles says:

"I am delighted to be back with the big ART Grand Prix family after my karting seasons in 2012 and 2013. GP3 is a very competitive category and I will be in the best team in the championship. The atmosphere is good and everything everyone is working with a common goal: to win. I am excited about the car they have prepared for this season and I can't wait to start the championship. My objective is clearly to fight for the title."

GP3 would eventually be merged with the Formula 3 European Championship-- the category Charles had competed in the previous year-- to form F3 as we currently have it. In 2016, however, GP3 was considered a minor step up from F3: the cars were a little faster, and the tires were a little more difficult to master.

Somehow, Charles' announcement that he would be graduating to GP3 with the top team wouldn't be his biggest press release of the week.

On March 1st, Ferrari formally announces Charles as the newest member of the Ferrari Drivers Academy. This had been rumored for months.

Ferrari goes a step farther by also announcing Charles as a Ferrari Development Driver and "on the books" of its F1 customer team Haas. The position with Ferrari would mean that Charles would be working on the Maranello simulators to test data for Vettel and Raikkonen, and the connection to Haas was rumored to be structured so that Charles could gain experience by driving in FP1 practices during the season.

At this point, Haas was the customer team closest to Ferrari; Sauber would not rebrand as Alfa Romero until late 2017.

Charles is the favorite going into the 2016 GP3 season, to the point where Motorsport.com titles their season preview "Can anyone stop Leclerc?":

“His karting record and early campaigns in single-seaters suggest Leclerc might be one of the biggest talents of his generation, but with that has come the burden of expectation. Still, early indications suggest he won't buckle and, if he doesn't, he might be unstoppable. [..] No wonder our entire panel picked him as the champion, Leclerc is the whole package - super fast, quick to adapt, consistent, strong racecraft. It might put too much pressure on him but not winning the title, which is as option in this field, would be a disappointment.”

Charles starts off his GP3 career dominant. He impresses in tests by going fastest:

Before the GP3 season starts, Charles gets his first taste of the future by testing a F1 car for the first time.

He drives a 2014-spec F14T at Fiorano with the goal of completing the 300km needed to be granted a free-practice-only super license. Charles is the first GP3 driver who tests that season.

The FIA super license is the qualification needed for a driver to compete in the F1 World Championship. In order to get a full one, a driver must (as of 2021):

Be at least 18 years old at the start of their first F1 competition

Already have an International Grade A competition license

Have a valid driving license

Pass an FIA test on the F1 sporting codes and regulations

Completed at least 80% of each of two full seasons of any of the approved single-seater Championships

Accumulated at least 40 points over the previous three seasons in those championships

Getting a full F1 super license is critical to Charles' hopes of bypassing F2 for F1 next season. He comes into this season with 17 super license points: 10 from finishing runner-up in the 2014 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps, and 7 from finishing fourth in the previous year's F3 European Championship. In GP3, 30 points are given to the winner and 20 to the runner-up; this means that anything less than first would eliminate his chance of jumping to F1 in 2017.

Charles would continue to excel through the end of the season. Unlike in F3, he would come out swinging and continue strong until the very last race. Charles wins the series opener in Barcelona; he goes from second row to leading the race by the first corner, and never looks back.

According to reports, Ferrari Team Principal Maurizio Arrivabene sneaks away to see Charles' first win as a member of his FDA.

Charles finds his only rival that season in a familiar face: Alex Albon, an old karting teammate and fellow member of the ART GP team. If you want in a more in-depth look into their relationship this season, you can read Part 2 of my Chalex primer.

Like in Parts 1 and 2 of the Chrimer, I will be focusing less on the actual races. You can find race-by-race breakdowns here, if you're interested.

It is important to note that Alex and Charles trade wins and share multiple 1-2s throughout the season, like so:

In June, Haas would officially announce Charles' first Grand Prix weekend as a test driver. He'd replace Esteban Guiterrez in five practice sessions throughout the season, starting in Silverstone.

Charles does well. He says to NBC Sports:

“It’s been an amazing experience for my first time in a Formula 1 car. I was struggling quite a lot at the beginning, as Silverstone is quite a hard track with lots of high-speed corners, and I found the steering wheel quite stiff in comparison to anything I’ve driven before. However, it was a great session and lap after lap I gained confidence. The last run was on old tires, so we couldn’t show our real pace, but I think we were quite fast. We completed the program and that was the main aim, so I’m happy with that. It was probably one of the best days of my life, and to do it with Haas has been even more amazing.”

Gunther Steiner, the Haas Team Principal, agrees:

“I found it quite good how calm he was about the whole thing, and we must never forget this is an 18-year-old kid in an F1 car - the fastest racecar in the world. I wasn't surprised by him, but I was impressed by him and what he did. [...] He was very professional, he did a good job, and he showed he can do it.”

Four days later, Ferrari brings Charles back to Silverstone to test in one of their cars. He describes the difference to Autosport.com:

"It's two different things. In FP1 with Haas that was mostly for the team because they had a weekend after, and I had to work for them and do as many kilometres for them as possible. With Ferrari it was a long day so we could plan it a bit better. Unfortunately we couldn't do many laps because of a little problem on the old power unit, but both experiences have been amazing. It's still good to get experience in two different Formula 1 cars. The more cars I try, and the different ways I see of working, the more experience I get."

It's very clear that Jules is on Charles' mind as he tests at Ferrari. He talks extensively to the press about his mentor:

“Jules advised me really well in the past, and all his comments he gave me in the past I keep in mind and try not to make the errors he told me not to do. [...] Jules was one of the talents who would have gone [to Ferrari] if the things that happened hadn't have happened.”

Jules' memory weighs heavy on him for that entire season.

Charles continues performing at a high-level both in GP3 and as a test driver: rumors for his next season remain abundant, especially as he stays at the top of the standings. One of the largest rumors is that Charles will bypass GP2 for an F1 seat with Haas the next year.

These hopes are soon dashed. In September, Gunther announces that they will not be signing Charles for 2017. He says:

“In the position we are in, he's too inexperienced. I wouldn't say too young, as Max Verstappen does a good job. We highly respect what Leclerc is doing in FP1, he was on the gain immediately. But what we need as a team is somebody who can score points. We need to train the team, we cannot train the driver. It [taking a rookie] is not an option at the moment, it's not a thing we want to do."

The comparisons with Max continue to loom over Charles, both in F1 and GP3. An F1 junior driving ranking says in the lead up to the final race:

“In an age in which every junior driver is seemingly being measured against Max Verstappen, Leclerc is one of the few who clearly compares favorably. His Euro F3 campaign in 2015 was in my view every bit as impressive as Max Verstappen’s the year before. In 2016, Leclerc stepped up to the considerably more powerful GP3 cars and generally looked strong since winning the first race of the season. He leads the championship going into the last race weekend and most importantly leads another Ferrari junior, Antonio Fuoco, who is now in his second year of GP3. While a Formula 1 seat cannot be out of the question, I expect Ferrari will promote Leclerc to GP2 next. They may still be wary after their previous top junior, Raffaele Marciello, struggled to continue his earlier junior successes in GP2.”

The final race weekend of GP3 ends up the most important: Charles and Alex go into Abu Dhabi each with the chance of claiming the Championship.

Alex says:

"I think Charles' gap is a bit big. In a way I don't have anything to lose, there is no real pressure or anything for me. It's just about doing my job doing the best that I can and let's just hope Charles has a bad weekend."

Neither of them actually finish the feature race. Alex– who had gotten pole position that weekend– hits Jack Aiken while fighting for the lead and has to retire. Charles doesn’t make it much longer in the race; he gets run off the track by Santino Ferrucci while fighting for third.

It doesn’t matter. With the way the points are, Charles wins from the sidelines.

He says:

 “It was really strange to be champion and finish in the wall at the same time. When I heard on the radio we were already champions because Alex was out, then I took the risk. […] But it’s an amazing moment. So much dedication into this season - it’s amazing to finish on a high, on a low, but winning the championship.”

He also makes it clear that sometimes you can be a champion and still make time for drama:

“To be honest what Ferrucci did was completely stupid, I will have to go see him and talk to him. What he [Ferrucci] did already from the beginning of the race was really crazy, I already had problems [with him] this season and he kept going knowing I’m [competing for] a championship, which is really stupid.”

Charles finishes the season with 202 points to Alex’s 177. In December, it is announced that Charles will take Pierre’s-- who has just won GP2-- Prema spot.

And if ART GP is good, Prema is great. It sets Charles up for another banner year.