Charles Leclerc recalls Jules Bianchi

      Today marks 10 years since the tragic death of Formula 1 driver Jules Bianchi. Charles Leclerc, who races for Ferrari, knew Jules since childhood and shared his memories of his friend on the anniversary.

      Charles Leclerc: “I have many stories from those times. For example, I watched my first horror movie with Jules. He didn’t know I was pretending to be asleep. He was about to watch a movie with my older brother and wanted to make sure I was sleeping!

      Jules was truly a kind person. He was very funny, and there were many amusing moments with him, but you had to get to know him better. He always tried to help and was always happy to have fun together.

      My earliest memories of him are from when I was six or seven years old, and I was first allowed to race go-karts with him and my brother. Usually, go-karting is only for adults, but since Jules’s father managed the track, he allowed us to do some things that probably weren’t allowed.

      I admired Jules, so racing with him, my older brother, his younger brother, and many other professional karters of that time was incredible. We had a lot of fun.

      We hung out together and waited for the go-kart track to close to the public so we could race. And then we’d go crazy on the track for hours. These are probably the most wonderful memories I have.”