RacingCharles Leclerc says one of Formula 1’s toughest jobs starts before the race even begins. The Ferrari driver said on the BSMT podcast that the 20 minutes on the grid, surrounded by huge crowds at the exact moment drivers need final race information, can be harder to handle mentally than the driving itself.
Leclerc said Formula 1 drivers are exposed to attention almost from the moment they arrive at the paddock, and that the starting grid is where that pressure feels strongest. Speaking on the BSMT podcast, the Ferrari driver said, “To enter the grid, I think that’s one of the most difficult things in our sport.”
He described a routine that sounds simple on paper and messy in real life. According to Leclerc on the BSMT podcast, drivers do “two or three laps” to reach the grid, stop the car, get out, speak with engineers, go through the final briefing, and then climb back in. That all happens in “about 20 minutes more or less,” as Leclerc said on the BSMT podcast, while “there are thousands of people” around them.
That crowd is not just team members and officials. Leclerc said on the BSMT podcast that sponsors are there, and sometimes fans too, asking for photos and trying to talk right before the start. For him, that is exactly the moment when he needs to absorb what matters for the race. “But in that moment, for me, it’s full of all the information I need to have for the whole race,” Leclerc, Ferrari driver, said on the BSMT podcast. “So it’s fundamental for me to stay in my own bubble, and that’s the hardest thing.”
Leclerc said on the BSMT podcast that this was one of the biggest adjustments when he stepped up from Formula 2. In F2, he said, the environment was far more private. “I had to change my approach from Formula 2 to Formula 1,” Leclerc, Ferrari driver, said on the BSMT podcast. “In Formula 2 nobody knows you. You did your whole career quietly, you got into the car and that was it.”
Formula 1 brought a different level of exposure. Leclerc said on the BSMT podcast that “there are hundreds of thousands of people around,” and that he found that “very difficult to manage in the first races” before adapting. Even so, he made clear that the grid buildup remains a delicate part of the weekend because it mixes noise, access and last-minute preparation in the same small window.
To cope with it, Leclerc said on the BSMT podcast that he sticks closely to the same pre-grid habits. Around 30 minutes before getting in the car for those laps to the grid, he follows nearly the same routine every time, including “a cold shower, physical warm-up, etc.” Leclerc said on the BSMT podcast that repeating those steps helps him “reset and get back to the same mental state I need to get in.”