Formula 1: Charles Leclerc was asked if he attended the Italian Grand Prix
By Asher Fair
A taxi driver asked Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc if he was able to attend the Italian Grand Prix. He happened to be the winner of the race.
Seven days after becoming the 108th different driver to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix by winning the Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, first-year Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc doubled his career win total.
The 21-year-old Monegasque became the first Ferrari driver to win Ferrari’s home race, the Italian Grand Prix, at Autodromo Nazionale Monza since two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso won it in 2010. In doing so, he ended Ferrari’s longest ever Italian Grand Prix win drought.
After the race, Leclerc’s victory was all the buzz. But while pretty much everybody had gotten the memo, a few were still fuzzy one some of the details — like who, exactly, Leclerc is.
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Leclerc recalled getting into a taxi behind the driver, and that taxi driver, who hadn’t turned around to see who had gotten in, then asked the Formula 1 driver if he had attended the Italian Grand Prix.
After the two had a discussion about this 53-lap race around the 11-turn, 3.6-mile (5.794-kilometer) Autodromo Nazionale Monza road course in Monza, Italy, the trip had ended.
But before Leclerc got out and went on his way, he told the taxi driver perhaps the most important detail: he happened to be the winner of this race.
Here is what he had to say about this “funny” experience in an interview with TG1, translated by Formula 1.
"“I got into a taxi, behind the driver, so he didn’t see me. He asked if I’d been to the Grand Prix and I said, ‘Yes, it was very nice’. He said ‘That young guy is really strong’. At the end of the trip, he asked me who I was and I said ‘I’m that young guy you were talking about’. It was pretty funny!”"
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Charles Leclerc and the rest of the Formula 1 field are set to get back into action following an off weekend in this Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix. This race, the 15th of 21 races on the 2019 schedule, is set to be broadcast live on ESPN2 from Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore beginning at 8:05 a.m. ET.