Charles Leclerc has always felt he had been destined to be a Formula One driver. He was born in Monaco, France, into a family with motor racing connections, and he started kart racing at a young age.
“My life has always been about speed since I was four and I started racing,” Leclerc told Classic FM.
Fast forward. Charles Leclerc joined Formula One in 2018 and, a year later, attained his dream driving for Scuderia Ferrari alongside veterans like Sebastian Vettel. Today, the 26-year-old is one of the best drivers of his generation and has toured the world competing at the top level of motorsport.
However, like most of the world, he had more time on his hands during the COVID-19 pandemic. At 22, he bought a piano and began to learn the basics of music and how to play. He loved it.
A hobby becomes serious music
Charles Leclerc says music came naturally to him the way racing did. “I fell in love with this instrument straight away. I took a few lessons at the beginning to try and learn how to read music, which I did,” he told Classic FM. “But very quickly, I basically wanted to do my own songs — and that’s how I started.”
It didn’t take long for him to learn the ropes, and in April 2023, Charles Leclerc released his first single — a four-minute composition called AUS23(1:1). With this delightful modern classical piece, he captivated many fans, and his single gained instant popularity. AUS23(1:1) climbed to No. 6 in Apple’s iTunes rankings alongside the likes of Ed Sheeran, Miley Cyrus, and Taylor Swift. His music has also garnered over 20 million streamers on Spotify.
“After posting some stories I realized that many people actually enjoyed the music I was doing and it didn’t cost me much to actually basically only record the song and put it out there,” Leclerc said at the Azerbaijani Grand Prix in Baku. “The response is really good. It’s nothing too professional but it’s enough for people to enjoy and that’s enough for me,” (BBC)
Following the release of his first single, Leclerc released two other songs in 2023: MIA23(1:2) and MON23. These song names may sound peculiar, but he says he wanted to connect his music to his world of racing.
“I had no idea how to call the song and I didn’t want to sound like super-professional, trying to think about a name of the song or whatever,” he explained. “So it’s basically a timeline. Whenever I exit one song, if I exit it around the Monaco GP it will be ‘Mon23’ just because it’s the way we call it for the engineers. Nothing too crazy, just a timeline to understand when I released the music.” (Reuters)
He may try to be humble and downplay his musical prowess, but the multitalented Formula One driver is becoming a household name only three years after starting his piano lessons.
Charles Leclerc’s collaboration with renowned French pianist Sofiane Pamart
Leclerc’s fans couldn’t get enough of his music after his three singles, and during the 2023 Grand Prix season break, he admitted he was collaborating with French piano icon Sofiane Pamart.
In early 2024, he took a step further in his musical career by releasing his first-ever EP (extended play). Usually, an EP contains more tracks than a single, but fewer than an album, and Leclerc’s EP features four piano tracks.
It includes his three singles and one collaboration with Pamart. Interestingly, his collaborative song with Pamart was the background score when he was signing a new contract with Ferrari.
Vinyl records of the songs will be available for a short time for his fans, and he’s also set to release the scores so that fellow pianists can play Leclerc and Pamart’s music themselves.
The future of Charles Leclerc’s music career
In many interviews, the Formula One pianist has reiterated he is, first and foremost, a driver and that music is his passion. “I’m still fully a driver,” he said. “I just do (music) from pure passion.” (The Athletic) Still, most fans can’t wait to see how Charles Leclerc’s musical career blossoms alongside his motorsport prowess.
Lewis Hamilton is another famous motorsport driver who dabbles in singing under the name XNDA. In 2018, Hamilton was featured alongside Christina Aguilera in a song titled ‘Pipe,’ and he’s now Charles Leclerc’s teammate after making a surprise switch from Mercedes to Ferrari. Many fans have hinted at a collaboration on the musical stage, and it may happen someday. As for now, Leclerc joked that his music was “sad” while Hamilton’s was “happy.”
Charles Leclerc has gained a devoted fanbase on the grand piano and Grand Prix. Hopefully, there will be more success on both tracks.
