(Motorsport-Total.com) – With 180 participations, Michael Schumacher still leads the statistics of Ferrari drivers with the most Grand Prix starts in Formula 1. New since the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix is the number 2 on the Scuderia’s all-time list: Charles Leclerc surpassed Kimi Räikkönen’s 151 starts in Shanghai.
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A number that the only 28-year-old Monegasque does not place much value on: “I didn’t even know that,” he says ahead of the Miami Grand Prix next weekend. “I’m not necessarily looking forward to becoming the first on this list. I want to win a World Championship. That’s what I work hard for every day, and I hope that day will come.”
Because in the Ferrari statistics that really matter, Leclerc still has several legends of the Italian brand ahead of him. Nine drivers have already won the Formula 1 World Championship for Ferrari, led by Michael Schumacher with his five titles between 2000 and 2004.
In terms of the number of Grand Prix wins, Leclerc (8) is in 9th place, behind Schumacher (72), Niki Lauda (15), Sebastian Vettel (14), Alberto Ascari (13), Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa (11), Kimi Räikkönen (10), and Rubens Barrichello (9).
Leclerc is best placed in the pole positions of Ferrari drivers – a statistic in which his 27 first starting positions are only surpassed by Schumacher (58).
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Leclerc was admitted to the Ferrari Academy in 2016 at the age of 18 – initially placed as a development driver with the customer team Haas and the Scuderia itself. In 2018, he moved up to Formula 1 with Sauber as the reigning Formula 2 champion, and in 2019 he surprisingly won the internal Ferrari team duel against superstar Sebastian Vettel with 264:240 points and 2:1 wins. His big breakthrough.
2026 is already Leclerc’s eighth season at Ferrari, although he is not even 30 yet. “It’s kind of strange,” he says. “I still feel very young, and I remember my first year at Ferrari as if it were yesterday. But it’s something special. I love this team, and I practically grew up here before I was a Formula 1 driver for Ferrari. I was in the academy, so they saw me grow not only as a racer but also as a person.”
Ferrari is “a special place for a racing driver. But I don’t want to be remembered one day as the longest-serving Ferrari driver. I would love for people to remember me as a Ferrari World Champion, and we haven’t achieved that yet. That is clearly my focus.”
By the way, the last world champion with Ferrari was Kimi Räikkönen in the 2007 Formula 1 season.
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