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In a Formula One first, two brothers took to the track for the same team in the same session — Charles Leclerc was joined by younger brother Arthur in the other Ferrari.
Charles Leclerc and Arthur Leclerc for Ferrari (X)
Charles Leclerc and his younger brother Arthur drove side-by-side in matching Ferraris at the end of the first practice session at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Friday.
“Just saying hello to my brother,” Arthur told the team over the radio after Charles gave him a wave on their slowdown lap at the Yas Marina Circuit.
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Brothers have raced in F1 before — Michael and Ralf Schumacher both won races — but F1 said the Leclerc brothers from Monaco were the first to be teammates in an official session as part of a championship race weekend.
The 24-year-old Arthur Leclerc, who previously drove in Formula 2, was borrowing Carlos Sainz Jr.’s Ferrari because of a rule that teams must give younger and less experienced drivers practice time at least twice per season.
Charles Leclerc said his family was flying in to Abu Dhabi to watch the brothers.
“It will be a very special moment,” he said in a team statement Thursday. “Because to a certain extent it means that all the sacrifices my family made will have served a purpose.”
At one stage, the family reportedly had to pause Arthur’s career when he was a teenager because of the financial demands of supporting Charles in his rise toward F1.
Charles was fastest in first practice but his session began with a major setback as Ferrari had to replace the battery pack on his car. That led to an expected 10-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race and a heavy blow to the team’s hopes of beating McLaren to the constructors’ title.
Arthur spent the first part of the session driving with his car fitted with an “aero rake”, a frame with sensors that allow teams to measure air flows. By the end, he was 18th fastest of the 20 drivers in the session, 1.858 seconds off his brother’s time.
As the last round of the year, Abu Dhabi is a popular choice to try out a younger driver, since teams are typically more familiar with how to set up the car for different conditions regardless of feedback from the drivers.
Ferrari are 21 points behind leaders McLaren, last champions in 1998, with 44 still to be won on Sunday and third-placed Red Bull out of the running.
(With inputs from Agencies)
- Location :
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE)