Charles Leclerc

Leclerc progressed to international competition in 2010, entering the junior KF3 class, where he became the youngest winner of the CIK-FIA Monaco Kart Cup—his home event at the Circuit de Monaco. He finished twenty-ninth on his World Cup debut, fifth in the inaugural Academy Trophy, and runner-up to Pierre Gasly in the French Championship. Leclerc was scouted by Nicolas Todt in 2011, joining his All Road Management firm upon recommendation from Bianchi. Todt negotiated his move to Intrepid that year, winning the World Cup at Sarno; he later described it as "by far [his] best karting race ever". He further won the Academy Trophy and the Masters of Paris-Bercy, as well as finishing runner-up to Nicklas Nielsen in the WSK Final Cup.

Leclerc graduated to the senior KF2 category in 2012 with the factory-backed ART Grand Prix team, winning the WSK Euro Series; he was involved in an incident with Max Verstappen at the second round, which resulted in both drivers' disqualifications. He finished runner-up on his European Championship debut amidst a title battle with Verstappen and Ben Barnicoat, repeating this result at the under-18 World Championship, where he lost by a single point. He achieved fifth-placed finishes in both the World Cup and WSK Final Cup, and fourth at the SKUSA SuperNationals.

In 2016, Leclerc joined the Ferrari Driver Academy and signed as a development driver for Haas and Ferrari. He made his testing debut at Fiorano two months later, driving the Ferrari F14 T. As part of his role at Haas, Leclerc participated in the first free practice sessions of the British, Hungarian, German, and Brazilian Grands Prix. After impressing Ferrari at the former, he completed his first official test for the team at Silverstone in the SF16-H. He was initially rumoured to graduate directly to Formula One with Haas after winning the 2016 GP3 Series; team principal Guenther Steiner denied the rumours and stated that Leclerc would instead progress to FIA Formula 2.

Leclerc has been noted by critics for his proficiency in wheel-to-wheel racing. After ceding the lead of the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix to Max Verstappen in the closing laps, Leclerc claimed Verstappen's move was "not the way you overtake" and that he would adjust his aggression going forward. The following race, he beat Verstappen in a hard-fought contest for third, which Vijay Pattni of Top Gear summarised as "holy heck, what a fight. Both younglings threw their cars at each other, both refused to yield any space, and both—miracously—avoided coming together." Leclerc declared it "the most fun [he has] had in [Formula One]", whilst Verstappen added "I think he was a little bit sore still from Austria so he was defending really hard, but it is fine, I am all for that". He was nicknamed il Predestinato (lit. 'the Predestined') in Italian media after defending his lead at the 2019 Italian Grand Prix from both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. He was praised for his first-corner overtake on Bottas at the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix, with Jonathan Noble of Motorsport.com describing the move as "sensational".

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