page_title: Charles Leclerc
section_title: Test driver
hierarchical_section_title: Charles Leclerc / Formula One career / Test driver
caption_attribution_description: English: Formula One 2017 Round 15 Malaysian GP: Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
context_page_description: Charles Leclerc is a Monégasque racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari. Leclerc won the GP3 Series championship in 2016 and the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2017.
  Leclerc made his Formula One debut in 2018 for Sauber, a team affiliated with Ferrari, for which he was part of Ferrari Driver Academy. With Sauber having finished last the year before, Leclerc led the charge to improve the finishing position in the constructors' championship to eighth, being the higher ranked of the two Sauber drivers.
  Starting from 2019 and contracted until the end of the 2024 season, Leclerc is currently driving for Ferrari. He became the second-youngest driver to qualify on pole position in Formula One at the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix. The 2019 season also saw Leclerc take his first career win in Belgium, followed by winning his first Italian Grand Prix as a Ferrari driver the week after. He won the Pole Trophy in the 2019 season becoming the youngest driver ever and the first non-Mercedes driver to win it since the trophy's inception in 2014.
context_section_description: In 2016, Leclerc joined the Ferrari Driver Academy and he acted as development driver for Haas F1 Team and Scuderia Ferrari. As part of his role as development driver, Leclerc participated in the first practice session of the British and German Grands Prix driving for Haas. It was believed that if Leclerc won the GP3 Series championship, he would follow Daniil Kvyat and Valtteri Bottas direct from GP3 into F1 with Haas. However this was debunked by Haas team principal Guenther Steiner who said that Leclerc would progress to the 2017 FIA Formula 2 Championship.
  In 2017, he took part in the mid-season Hungaroring test following the Hungarian Grand Prix, driving the Ferrari SF70H. He was fastest on the first day of the test, running 98 laps in the process and he did not take part in the second day's test. Kimi Räikkönen also praised Leclerc saying "It's not easy to do well in a different car from what you normally drive. But Leclerc has shown great progress, and for sure he will do great things in the future".
caption: Leclerc testing for Sauber at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix
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