MOTORSPORT: The young Monegasque driver, Charles Leclerc has become the youngest winner of a GP for Ferrari
Monaco’s Charles Leclerc on Sunday won his first Formula 1 victory at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, also giving Ferrari its first win of the season. He resisted in the final laps of the return race of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) which however increases its lead in the provisional ranking of the world championship.
Première victoire pour Charles Leclerc pic.twitter.com/O7bqabuVCb
— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) 1 September 2019
At 21, Charles Leclerc became the youngest winner of a Grand Prix with the Scuderia, and the third youngest in the history of F1 (after Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel). He dedicated his victory to the French driver Antoine Hubert, who was killed Saturday in an F2 race on the same circuit.
Read More: French Formula 2 Driver Antoine Hubert dies at Spa in violent accident
“At the same time I realize a dream but we also had a very difficult weekend because we lost a friend yesterday,” said the winner as soon as the finish line was crossed.
Leclerc : “C’est très difficile de gagner dans cette situation” pic.twitter.com/T94nk3UtvL
— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) 1 September 2019
Leclerc had scratched “RIP Tonio” on the wheel of his Ferrari and “# 19 Racing for Antoine” on the side of his car. In an atmosphere weighed down by the death of Antoine Hubert, 22, the three pilots on the podium have not sprinkled champagne assistance as it is traditional after a Grand Prix, just to leave with their bottles.
#RacingForAnthoine pic.twitter.com/nyUVEcCJqO
— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) 1 September 2019
Before the race, all the drivers had gathered on the starting line in a semicircle facing the French helmet to respect a minute of silence in memory of the deceased driver.
Charles Leclerc was in pole position for this race and benefited from a good strategy from his team to finish with less than a second ahead of Hamilton. Mercedes’ team-mate Valtteri Bottas completed the podium while fellow Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel finished fourth.
