EXCLUSIVE: Charles Leclerc is used to wearing red – after all, it’s the signature colour of Scuderia Ferrari, the Formula One team for whom he’s won eight Grands Prix.
Yet on the day Leclerc sits down with Stellar, he’s in a chocolate-brown polo shirt with not a hint of helmet hair.
While his wardrobe on the track is a crimson-red race suit (known as “rosso corsa”, or racing red, at the Ferrari headquarters in Italy), the 28-year-old driver is very much embracing his off-duty aesthetic.
Often described as one of the world’s best-dressed men, Leclerc has been spotted in the front row at Paris Fashion Week and last month walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival alongside his wife, Alexandra (in his role as an ambassador for L’Oréal Paris, one of the event’s official partners).
Asked to describe his style, he settles on “minimalist but elevated”, adding that he and his stylist had just been discussing that very question.
“We try to choose whatever I feel comfortable with,” he explains. “That it feels like me. And that I feel good in whatever I wear.”
With a career that frequently sees him driving at 350km/hour, Leclerc is quite literally living a fast-paced life.
The unrelenting speed was evident at the Monaco Grand Prix earlier this month, where he was forced to retire from the race after crashing, proving just how rapidly fortunes on the track can change.
(Speaking in the aftermath, he told reporters he was “extremely disappointed, sad and angry”.)
Asked about his day-to-day schedule amid the unpredictability of his sport, the Ferrari star admits that establishing a routine is nearly impossible.
“There are at least two hours of sport a day,” he tells Stellar.
“There are so many things going on. Every day is very different.”
Born in Monte Carlo in Monaco, Leclerc started racing at the age of seven.
His late father, Hervé Leclerc, raced in Formula Three, and the young driver rose through that tier and advanced to Formula Two before making his Formula One debut in 2018 with the Sauber team. He joined Scuderia Ferrari in 2019, and debuted for the team at the Australian Grand Prix that March. By the September, he had ended Ferrari’s nine-year drought at the Italian Grand Prix.
The Australian Grand Prix is among Leclerc’s conquests. He won the race in 2022 (this year, he finished third behind the Mercedes duo, British driver George Russell and his Italian teammate Kimi Antonelli), and while he says it’s one of his favourite races of the season, he adds, “The track itself has always been a challenging one for me.”
A fondness for Aussies adds to the event’s appeal for Leclerc, who counts retired Aussie F1 star Daniel Ricciardo as a friend.
“I try to come as early as possible for the race because I love the energy in Melbourne.
“Every Australian I know always has a big smile on their face when I speak with them,” he notes.
“That makes such a big difference. There’s a very positive energy wherever you go.”
Leclerc credits his mother, Pascale, a former hairdresser, for influencing his work ethic and helping him to stay grounded.
“I was very lucky to grow up with very strong women by my side, [including] my mum, [who] always supports me,” Leclerc reflects of the pair’s mother-son bond.
“It can’t go one way – it goes both ways.
“And just by being there and listening to her and supporting her in everything she does, is something that is very, very important for me.”
POWER COUPLE
Finding a balance outside the glamorous and fast-moving world of racing is also a priority for Leclerc.
He and Alexandra, who went public with their romance in 2023 and wed in February this year, are considered one of the sport’s power couples.
Born in France, Alexandra is a former art history student who is now an art assistant and influencer with 4.8 million Instagram followers (such is her reach, she recently released a capsule collection with US fashion brand Frame).
Having become one of the most recognisable WAGs on the circuit, the 25-year-old was pictured earlier this month on the balcony of the Ferrari garage at the Monaco GP with Kim Kardashian, who is dating Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Of his wife, Leclerc says: “Whoever is successful in life is also thanks to the people that he has around who have built him or her into the person that they are now. Alexandra played a huge part in that.
“She’s incredibly passionate about art, fashion, and once we first got together we spoke about our mutual passions.
“I learnt a lot about her world that she loves. That was super interesting for me.
“Now that I’m an ambassador for L’Oréal Paris, that’s also thanks to her: the attention to detail that she has, the taste … in terms of fashion, opens up your mind.
“Taste is very difficult to describe in words,” Leclerc continues.
“It was super interesting to see her vision in fashion and to support her, just like she supports me. We form a very strong couple.”
Of his personal life off the grid, Leclerc tells Stellar: “Being a Formula One driver, we travel all around the world – in a very short amount of time.
“It’s important to find time for myself: to slow down, to recharge the batteries in order to be 100 per cent for the full length of the season.
“This is more about having the right people around me, spending the free time that I have – which is quite little – with my family and friends, the people that matter the most to me,” he tells Stellar.
“These are the things that make me happy and that allow me to be 100 per cent for the whole season.”
This article originally appeared in Stellar. For more, click here.