Maiden wins and battling the elements: Arthur Leclerc on the moments that made him

From his first race on an F1 weekend to fighting back through the pack in what was a truly unpredictable race, Arthur Leclerc has a fair few standout moments in his career already.

The DAMS driver goes in depth on his favourite memories coming through the ranks, in glorious sunshine and unrelenting Italian rain.

First F4 victory, 2019

“My first ever win in Formula 4, it was in Hockenheim on the Formula 1 weekend and all my family were there. It was the first time in my life I was driving with my brother on the same weekend and I won the race there.

“I remember there were a lot of drivers there who I race with now, Théo Pourchaire, Roman Stanek, Dennis Hauger as well, the grid was pretty strong. It was a nice memory.

“I was really happy obviously. It was the first time driving with my brother on the same race weekend and there was a lot of fans around the track. That was one of my best memories and the first winning feeling, it was incredible. Second, all of the support I had on the Formula 1 weekend was amazing.

"It was special because there is so much more going on on an F1 weekend and the track is changing so much because there's a lot of racing happening. The F1 tyres give it so much grip so it was quite hard to adapt at first, but we managed it well.”

Mugello wins, 2020

“The second one would be Mugello in Formula Regional, 2020. I won the three races in a row in one weekend in every condition, dry and wet. I did pole for all three races I won, and it was just an amazing weekend. I’ve never had such a perfect weekend, winning and topping every session especially in different conditions where you have to adapt. It was just an amazing feeling.

“This was definitely the best weekend of my life and career. I knew I was strong in the wet and I’m generally quite good in changeable conditions, and we managed to do the job. I was fighting against teammates at the time who were strong as well, so it was not easy.

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“All of the sessions we managed to extract the maximum and there was even one race where we did two pitstops which never happens in Regional. Because the weather was changing massively, firstly dry, then wet so we boxed again. We were last at one Safety Car and I managed to catch everyone to climb back up to P1, it was my best weekend.

“This race especially was satisfying because it was the hardest one of my life. We started on wets, straight away the wets got destroyed so I had to box but the radio message didn’t get through, so I had to box one lap later. We boxed to put slicks on and when we did, just when I stopped, a massive rain shower arrived. The track was wet, and I was on slicks, so I lost all the positions, dropping down the order.

“I remember that lap on slicks was so hard to keep it on the track, so tricky. I managed to box again, put the wets back on and I was pretty strong to the end.”

First FIA F3 win, Paul Ricard 2021

“The final one I would say is my first ever win in Formula 3 at Paul Ricard. I was coming from really far back on the grid, P30 race one and knew I had to be inside the top 12 for the reverse grid and on the last lap, I got 12th. Then I started from pole, and I remember I think Dennis and Olli Caldwell were right behind me and we managed to keep the lead and win with a good lap. It was a good weekend.

“First of all, it was my first feeling of a home race. Paul Ricard was the closest race to home at that point as we didn’t have Monaco on the calendar. All of my family and friends were there and there were a lot of people supporting me.

“In Qualifying, unfortunately I messed up. I had a lot of bottoming out and coming into Turn 2 at this track, we lost the suspension on the first lap. I didn’t have one lap and I started at the back but came back to P12.

“Then it was my first time starting from the front row in Formula 3. We knew the race pace was good, but we never knew what would happen out front. We won the race with quite a gap so that’s when I showed that the pace was a strong point for me.”