What is Your Time Worth?

Charles Leclerc, born in the Principality of Monaco on 16th October 1997, began racing karts at the age of five. In 2011, he won the CIK-FI KF3 World Cup and the CIK-FIA Academy Trophy. In 2012, he was WSK Champion and in 2013, he finished runner-up in the European and Under 18 class with Fortec Motorsport. One year later, still with Fortec, he took the runner-up spot in the ALPS Championship. He was best rookie in his debut season in Formula 3 in 2015, when he raced for Van Amersfoort Racing, finishing fourth in the championship. In 2016, Charles became a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy and won the GP3 series with ART Grand Prix, at that time run by Frederic Vasseur. The following year he won the Formula 2 Championship at his first attempt. In 2018, he made his Formula 1 debut with the Alfa Romeo Sauber team, scoring 39 points. In 2019, he partners Sebastian Vettel in the Scuderia Ferrari driver line-up. Shortly before Christmas, Scuderia Ferrari announced that it had extended his contract up to and including the 2024 season. In 2020, Charles had to call on all his skills to deal with the shortcomings of the SF1000, scoring three times more points than his team-mate, thus contributing 75% of the team’s total that brought it sixth place in the Constructors’ championship. The Monegasque was eight in the Drivers’ classification, his best results being two podium finishes – a second place in Austria and a third in Great Britain – along with a further eight points finishes. In 2021, he took pole at the Monaco GP, although he was unable to start the race because of a technical problem with the car. There was another pole in Azerbaijan and he drove brilliantly at Silverstone to finish second, having led the race until two laps from the flag. He took the SF21 into the points 18 times from 22 race starts, finishing seventh in the Drivers’ classification, thus playing a major part in Ferrari securing third place in the Constructors’ championship. In 2022, he took nine pole positions, which put him third on the all-time list of Ferrari drivers behind Michael Schumacher and Niki Lauda and he also won three times, in Bahrain, Australia and Austria, to finish second in the Drivers’ championship. In 2023 he again proved to be a qualifying star, with five pole positions, thus joining Niki Lauda on the Ferrari all-time pole list, with just Michael Schumacher out in front. Although there were no wins, he had a very strong second half to the season, finishing fifth in the championship. On 25 January, Scuderia Ferrari announced it had extended its contract with Leclerc for several years. Frédéric Vasseur was born in Draveil, France on 28 May 1968. In 1995, he graduated in Aeronautical Engineering at ESTACA (École Supérieure des Techniques Aéronautiques et de Construction Automobile) in Paris. In 1992, while still studying, he established RPM, preparing Formula 3 engines for Renault. In 1996, he set up the ASM team, racing in Formula 3. He ran the operation up to 2015, winning various titles including the French one in 1998 with David Saelens at the wheel, going on to win the European title four times between 2004 and 2007, with Jamie Green, Lewis Hamilton, Paul Di Resta and Romain Grosjean. In 2004, he created a second team, ART Grand Prix winning eighth teams’ championships across GP2 and GP3 and eleven drivers’ titles including clinching the 2016 GP3 crown with Charles Leclerc. An enquiring mind and a willingness to explore new avenues led Vasseur to set up AOTech in 2010, a company specialising in driving simulators and CFD design. Two years later, along came Spark Racing Technology, dealing in the design and manufacture of hybrid and electrical systems. The company secured the contract to supply Formula E chassis, when the category for fully electric single-seaters was first set up by the FIA (Federation Internationale Automobile) in 2014. Frédéric first appeared in the Formula 1 paddock in 2016 as Renault Team Principal. The following year he moved on to become Managing Director of the Sauber Group, as well as Team Principal of the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team, which morphed into Alfa Romeo Racing in 2019, running Ferrari power units. After the 2022 season, he was asked to take on the role of Scuderia Ferrari General Manager and Team Principal, starting in his new position on 9 January 2023.