Charles Leclerc reveals why he was banned from Ferrari factory

Ferrari have one of the most talented drivers on the Formula 1 grid in their ranks in the form of Charles Leclerc.



The 2017 Formula 2 winner has been destined to achieve great things from a very young age and after Ferrari’s strategic blunders and reliability issues last year, he can even count himself unlucky to not have won a championship title yet.



It seemed written in the stars that Leclerc would one day drive for Ferrari and after an impressive rookie season with Sauber, the Monegasque driver made his dream move to the Scuderia.



Leclerc’s godfather Jules Bianchi was part of the Ferrari driver academy and spent two seasons in Formula 1 with Marussia before tragically losing his life after an accident at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.







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Leclerc has now told the media that he was once actually forbidden from entering the Ferrari factory as a child, after Bianchi tried to get him in, being part of the driver academy at the time.



“The very first time I came here, I couldn’t come inside Scuderia Ferrari because I was 12 years old maybe,” he said in a Shell-sponsored video.



“With my godfather Jules Bianchi, who was a driver for the Ferrari driver academy at that time, I asked him ‘please, can I come with you?’ He asked the security at the entrance and they said ‘no, we’re sorry but we cannot accept people from the outside.’



“From that moment onward, and even before, I always wanted to be a Ferrari driver.



“Coming inside in front of those doors and not being able to see everything that was inside, I think that gave me even more motivation to be working a hard as ever to be able to one day come here.”




Ex- #Ferrari team principal slapped with ban amid cheating scandal https://t.co/1RMSADKSic — Formula1News.co.uk (@Formula1newsUK) January 21, 2023




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Since joining Ferrari, Leclerc has won five Grand Prix, often having to settle for a place behind the Red Bulls and Mercedes.



Ferrari made massive strides forward under the new regulations last year but still fell some way short of Max Verstappen and Red Bull, unfortunately for Leclerc.



This season, the team will be hoping to go one step further and win their first championship title since 2008, ending a title drought that is uncharacteristically long for a team such as Ferrari.
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