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A historic practice session awaits at Yas Marina Circuit on Friday as Charles Leclerc and his younger brother Arthur get set to become the first ever siblings to drive an F1 session together as teammates.
Charles, 27, and Arthur, 24, will suit up for Ferrari in the opening free practice session at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where they will be fighting McLaren for the constructors’ title this weekend.
Arthur will be driving Carlos Sainz’s car, which would fulfil Ferrari’s second and final mandated rookie driver session of the season.
Charles admits it will be an emotional moment for himself and his family, and a “dream” for the two brothers.
“It is definitely a very, very special moment, for, not only me, not only for Arthur, but I think for the whole family,” Charles told reporters at Yas Marina Circuit.
“I can only see how much sacrifices my parents have done when I was younger for us to continue. Luckily for them, my older brother decided another route, which is the studies, which cost a lot less money.
“But my younger and myself had only one dream, which was to become professional drivers. Obviously my younger brother didn’t have the same chance as me, as he had to stop his career for four, five years, because my parents couldn’t really afford to do that for both of us.
“And I know how much it meant for my father to restart Arthur’s career, and when he did that he was so happy. And tomorrow (Friday) it’s very special also for that. For how much my father has given to us in order to pursue our dream and to see two Leclercs in Formula 1 in Ferraris is very, very special. So it will be a moment that we’ll forever remember for sure.
“Then for the future, I don’t know. To be honest I’m just enjoying the moment for now. It’s a dream for both of us.”
Arthur competed in Formula 2 last season, where he placed 15th in the standings. The younger Leclerc has spent 2024 serving as a development driver at Ferrari, while also racing in the Italian GT championship and the European Le Mans Series.
The entire Leclerc clan is flying in from Monaco to witness the two brothers in action.
Charles reflected on his early days going to the karting track at Brignoles in the south of France with Arthur, the late Jules Bianchi, and his older brother Tom.
"We used to drive very often all together in rental karts. Jules’ father was the manager of Brignoles, where I actually started karting, and we were always together,” said Charles.
“And we’ve always raced together since I was five or six. Then my younger brother joined us a bit later, when he was four or five. And we all raced on the same track together. And I think that helped us a lot with our race craft and the way we position the karting.
“So that’s where we raced. And I remember lots of days playing PlayStation on Formula 1, getting so frustrated at each other, being so competitive. Tomorrow that will happen in real life, which is quite cool.”
