Leclerc reflects on fame, privacy

Charles Leclerc says he has gone through three different phases as both his and Formula 1’s popularity have grown since he first arrived on the grid.

The Monegasque driver made his F1 debut with Alfa Romeo in 2018, joining one year after Liberty Media completed its takeover of the sport. Promoted to Ferrari just one year later, Leclerc’s popularity quickly snowballed, and the 28-year-old says there have been clear periods of adjustment during that time.

“My life has definitely changed a lot,” Leclerc told RACER. “Massively actually.

“I went through three phases. Obviously, there’s the first phase where you are still nobody – people don’t really recognize you – and that’s probably my first year in Formula 1. You get stopped a little bit.

“The second phase is, obviously you get stopped more and more often. And it’s something that you enjoy at first, because you’re like, ‘OK, I’ve always dreamed of being in that position of being a Formula 1 driver, especially with Ferrari, and I get so much support everywhere I go, and that is a very special thing to live’. And for that I was, I am, and I will forever be, grateful to be in that position.

“And then the third phase is when maybe you will want a bit more privacy on some of the things. But at the end of the day, I’m so lucky to be doing what I love. In the team I’ve always dreamed of driving for, having so much support everywhere.

“Yes, there’s a little bit less privacy. Or, you can have privacy, but you need to organize yourself much better than when I just had a normal life! But it comes with so many good sides that it’s not a problem, and I cannot complain about it.”

Leclerc announced his engagement to Alexandra Saint Mleux in November, and said the interest in his personal life is not something he always shies away from, instead citing the biggest challenge as preventing on-track results to have an overbearing influence on his family and friends.

“It’s more like sometimes you just want to spend a moment with your mom and just be normal and live a normal life, and that is a bit more difficult now,” he said. “Of course, the news of the engagement wasn’t so private as we obviously shared it ourselves! And it’s nice to be sharing some of those really positive news for us and for the people that follow us.

“Of course [it’s tough to separate F1 results and personal life] especially because Formula 1 is such a big part of my life. I mean, I’ve worked… I hate to say ‘work’ because I’ve always loved driving, but I’ve done that all my life and it means so much to me. 

“Everything that I have is family, friends and racing. And when you are so passionate about something, you live those moments to the fullest. And that means that the emotions are definitely in some ways drifting a little bit on your personal life as well.

“If I have a very bad race, then I’ll come back home down. And if I have a great race, then I’ll come back home happier. But then I think with experience, you try and separate the two as much as possible, because at the end of the day, you just have to reset. After every race, my main target is to reset, whether it’s a good one or a bad one, just reset and go again.”