Road to Formula 1

He was born on 16 October 1997 in Monte Carlo. In karting he won the CIK-FIA Academy Trophy in 2011, was European runner-up in the KF2 class in 2012 and, in 2013, his very first year in gearbox karts, world runner-up in the KZ class, beaten only by Max Verstappen. In 2014 he moved into single-seaters and finished the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps season second.

In 2015 he raced in European Formula 3 for Van Amersfoort Racing: four wins, fourth place in the championship and second at the Macau Grand Prix. In 2016 he joined the Ferrari Driver Academy and won GP3 at his first attempt with ART Grand Prix. That year he also drove in Friday practice for Haas four times, the first at the British Grand Prix on 8 July 2016.

In 2017, his first season in Formula 2, he became champion with Prema, winning seven races. At the same time he was Sauber’s development driver and drove four Friday practice sessions for the team: in Malaysia, the United States, Mexico and Brazil.

Debut for Sauber

He made his World Championship debut for Sauber at the Australian Grand Prix on 25 March 2018, starting 18th and finishing 13th. He scored his first points at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on 29 April 2018 — sixth after starting 13th. In September 2018 Ferrari announced that he would partner Sebastian Vettel from 2019.

Ferrari: first wins

He finished his first race for Ferrari, the Australian Grand Prix on 17 March 2019, in fifth place. Two weeks later, on 31 March 2019 in Bahrain, he took his first pole and led most of the race, but late on one of his engine’s cylinders stopped working and he finished third — his first podium in the championship.

He took his first win at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa on 1 September 2019, from pole. A week later, on 8 September 2019, he won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, again from pole — Ferrari’s first win at its home track since 2010, when Fernando Alonso won there. He finished the 2019 championship fourth.

In 2020 his best results were second at the Austrian Grand Prix on 5 July 2020 and third at the British Grand Prix on 2 August 2020. On 23 May 2021 he was on pole in Monaco but did not start because of a driveshaft failure; on 18 July 2021 he finished second at the British Grand Prix.

The 2022 season and a title fight

In 2022 he won the season opener, the Bahrain Grand Prix on 20 March 2022, from pole, then the Australian Grand Prix on 10 April 2022, also from pole, and the Austrian Grand Prix on 10 July 2022 from second on the grid. Three times he dropped out of a race while leading: at the Spanish Grand Prix on 22 May 2022 with a turbo failure, at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on 12 June 2022 with a power unit failure and at the French Grand Prix on 24 July 2022 after a mistake of his own. He finished the championship second, behind Max Verstappen.

2023 brought no wins: his best results were second places at the Austrian Grand Prix on 2 July 2023, the Las Vegas Grand Prix on 18 November 2023 and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 26 November 2023. His poles that season came in Baku on 30 April, Austin on 22 October, Mexico City on 29 October and Las Vegas on 18 November 2023.

Monaco and 2024

On 25 January 2024, in his sixth season with the team, Ferrari announced a multi-year contract extension with him, and on 1 February 2024 it announced that Lewis Hamilton would join the team from the 2025 season in place of Carlos Sainz.

On 26 May 2024 he won the Monaco Grand Prix from pole — the first Monegasque to win his home race since Louis Chiron in 1931, and his first win since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix. He had taken pole in Monaco in 2021 and 2022 but had never made the podium there. On 1 September 2024 he won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza from fourth on the grid, and on 20 October 2024 the United States Grand Prix, also from fourth. He finished the 2024 championship third.

In 2025, his first season with Hamilton as team-mate, he did not win a race: his best results were second places at the Monaco Grand Prix on 25 May 2025 and the Mexico City Grand Prix on 26 October 2025, and he took his only pole of the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix on 3 August 2025.

2026 season

2026 is his eighth season with Ferrari, with Lewis Hamilton as his team-mate. The championship runs to new technical regulations with new power units and active aerodynamics. The season opened with the Australian Grand Prix on 8 March 2026, where Leclerc finished third; he was also third at the Japanese Grand Prix on 29 March 2026, and at his home Monaco Grand Prix on 7 June 2026 he retired.

On 5 July 2026 he won the British Grand Prix — his first win at Silverstone and his first since the 2024 United States Grand Prix: he started second, and the race finished behind the safety car. On 19 July 2026 he finished second at Spa. He retired from the Italian Grand Prix on 6 September 2026, and on 13 September 2026 he was fourth at the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madrid circuit.