Formula 1: After heartbreak upon heartbreak, Charles Leclerc is a winner

After dealing with several doses of heartbreak throughout his Formula 1 career, most recently on Saturday, Charles Leclerc is now a race winner.

For the first time in his Formula 1 career in what was his 34th overall start and his 13th start driving for Scuderia Ferrari, Charles Leclerc became a race winner at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in the Belgian Grand Prix.

The first victory for the 21-year-old Monegasque came after he had dealt with several recent doses of heartbreak.

Leclerc was poised to win his second race driving for Ferrari line late March. But after dominating the Bahrain Grand Prix from the pole position and getting out to what was more than a 10-second led, an engine failure with only a handful of laps remaining dropped him to third place.

More from Formula One

• Formula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024
• Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?
• Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s future
• Formula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 season
• Formula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points

Not even three months later, Leclerc dominated the Austrian Grand Prix from the pole position. But Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen overcame a terrible start and a 15-second deficit to run him down and pass him for the lead on fresher tires with under three laps remaining, relegating Leclerc to second place.

The Belgian Grand Prix looked like it may produce that same level of heartbreak. Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton, who won the Bahrain Grand Prix after Leclerc’s engine failure, reeled him in on the final stint from over seven seconds behind after successfully managing his tires.

But Hamilton could not get the job done, falling just 0.981 seconds short, and Leclerc became a Formula 1 race winner.

However, the heartbreak that led up to Leclerc’s maiden victory isn’t limited to should-be-wins turning into non-wins.

It includes three tragedies, each of which took a toll on the young driver, and one of them took place not even two hours after he took the pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix he ended up winning the next day.

Reigning GP3 Series champion Anthoine Hubert passed away at the young age of 22 after he was involved in a massive wreck at the track on the second lap of the Formula 2 feature race. Leclerc was quick to dedicate his maiden victory to Hubert, who he grew up racing.

What should have been an amazing celebration for Leclerc was marred by Hubert’s death. In fact, Leclerc selflessly ensured that this celebration did not overshadow the passing of his fallen friend.

Prior to Hubert’s tragic passing, the most recent death that took place as a result of a crash in an FIA-sanctioned event was that of Jules Bianchi, who was involved in a wreck during the Japanese Grand Prix in October of 2014 before he eventually succumbed to his injuries in July of 2015 at the young age of 25.

Bianchi himself was poised to be a future Ferrari driver, and he was the godfather of Leclerc, who ultimately got to realize Bianchi’s dream this year after he was promoted to Ferrari following his rookie season at Alfa Romeo Sauber as Kimi Raikkonen’s replacement.

Before Leclerc got to Formula 1, he was dealt an additional blow. His father, Hervé Leclerc, passed away in June of 2017. Days later, Leclerc, the reigning GP3 Series champion at the time, went on to win the Formula 2 feature race at Baku City Circuit en route to becoming Formula 2 champion.

Just before his father’s passing, Leclerc was not confirmed on the 2018 Formula 1 grid. In fact, he remained unconfirmed when his father passed away.

But knowing that his father did not have much time left, he told him that he had been signed by a team for the following season. While not true at the time, he did end up signing with Sauber for the 2018 season later in 2017.

In his rookie Formula 1 season, Leclerc scored his first points at the same track with an impressive sixth place finish at Azerbaijan Grand Prix in April of 2018, which remained his best finish of the season throughout the year.

It was this ride with Sauber and the success that he had, which was the most success for any Sauber driver in several seasons, that ultimately landed him the opportunity to fulfill his dream of driving for Ferrari, and after overcoming heartbreak after heartbreak, he is now a race winner for the most successful and most historic team in the Formula 1 grid.

The Formula 1 world could not have asked for a better outcome to Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix after what happened at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps the day prior. After dealing with heartbreak upon heartbreak, both from a competition standpoint and a personal standpoint, Charles Leclerc earned the right to be the 108th ever race winner.