Charles Leclerc refuses to tell his mother that he will "be careful" while racing in Formula 1, as "that wouldn't be true".
Leclerc has been racing in Formula 1 for several years now and spent much more time than that in karting and then the feeder series. But that does not make him any less susceptible to the dangers that all racers accept before they put on their helmets.
F1 is a safer sport than it ever used to be after advancements in technology. One of the most important introductions, the halo, was controversial when brought in – but Leclerc's life was one of the first saved in a huge smash at the first corner of the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix.
Racing for Sauber at the time, he was fortunate to escape any injury when Fernando Alonso's McLaren went airborne and landed on top of his car. Analysis later determined that, had it not been for the protective device, his visor would have been struck by the car.
His godfather Jules Bianchi was less lucky. He was driving for Marussia at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix when he lost control and crashed into a recovery vehicle. He was placed into a coma after emergency surgery, but died nine months later.
The Frenchman's death marked the first in F1 since Ayrton Senna, who lost his life at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994 – the day after Roland Ratzenberger was killed in qualifying. No F1 driver has died in a crash since Bianchi, though F2 racer Anthoine Hubert's death at Spa in 2019 and Romain Grosjean's miracle escape in Bahrain a year later serve as reminders of the danger lurking around every corner of every circuit.
Speaking to British GQ for its September issue, Leclerc opened up on how difficult it is for his mother to accept the danger that he and his younger brother Arthur, who races in Formula 3, place themselves in every time they take to the track.
"It's tough on my mother," said the 24-year-old, who is only a year younger than Bianchi was when he had his fatal accident. "And I don't know what to tell her. Other than – I love what I do. There's nothing in particular I can say to make her feel better.
"I'm not going to say I’ll be careful. That wouldn't be true. I'm going to give it my best, whatever. She knows it's a dangerous sport. It's got massively safer through the years, but it will remain forever a dangerous sport. She knows I'm the happiest once I'm in that car."
The September issue of British GQ is available via digital download and on newsstands on 23rd August.
