How Leclerc is embracing his new mission

One of the ironies of the world being in lockdown and everyone forced to remain at distance from each other is that, in some ways, it's become easier to see what other people's real lives are like.

The boom in video conference calls - whether on a laptop screen or a mobile phone - has offered us a view inside the homes of colleagues, presenters and celebrities that we have never seen before. They say you should never judge a book by its cover, but you can certainly judge a lot by how tidy people's bookshelves are...

The lockdown has also meant people have ventured more in to online communities. For the Formula 1 world in particular, that has meant drivers joining the stampede towards sim racing, and live-broadcasting their efforts.

While sim regulars like Lando Norris and Max Verstappen have continued to excel in a pursuit they've enjoyed for years, perhaps one of the surprises of recent weeks has been the way that Ferrari's Charles Leclerc has become an instant streaming sensation.

Having dived in to a world that was pretty much unknown to him before the pandemic struck, Leclerc has proven not only to be quick in the events he has taken part in, but thoroughly entertaining too.

Anyone tuning in to his Twitch channel can often see him wearing his spectacles and bandana, giggling away to himself and his friends - usually Williams F1 driver George Russell - as he gets behind the wheel of anything he can, which recently even included a foray into articulated trucks.

It's offered fans at home a different view of the Monegasque driver, but it's one that the man himself thinks is actually more representative and true than that which is presented on grand prix weekends.

"Streaming on Twitch, this was something I definitely did not expect to enjoy and I never saw myself doing that," Leclerc explained this week, speaking via videoconference to selected media from his apartment in Monaco.

"But actually I really enjoyed it and I think it is the closest for people that follow me that you can get of the real me. At the F1 track obviously it's different, there's a pressure and things like this, so to be yourself is a bit different.

"Now on Twitch obviously, playing with the other drivers and, being friends as well, we all know each other since quite a long time with Lando, George, Alex [Albon]. So yeah, we can be ourselves and I enjoy it a lot more than I thought."

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Leclerc also trusts himself enough not to make any verbal blunders, with the controversy surrounding NASCAR driver Kyle Larson a clear warning of the consequences.

"I'm mostly thinking at least what ideas I can come up with to try and help the people that are at home, bored, and who don't have the chance as I do to have a simulator here" Charles Leclerc

"It can for sure happen but we are all very respectful, we also need to be careful because we know that a lot of people are watching us," says Leclerc. "But on the other hand, I try to be myself as much as possible.

"On this social platform, I feel I'm more myself so I'm definitely enjoying it. And I'm not thinking too much about saying something wrong."

Leclerc sees a bigger picture at play here too. His streams are not about trying to get as many followers as possible, or simply showing off how quick he can be at sim racing. Instead, this is about delivering a service to a world that needs its distractions right now.

"To be honest at the moment, my main priority is to try and entertain the people at home," he says. "And obviously keeping myself also entertained and try to train on the simulator.

"So at the moment I'm mostly thinking at least what ideas I can come up with to try and help the people that are at home, bored, and who don't have the chance as I do to have a simulator here: to try and put a smile on their face.

"I think it has worked pretty well with the things we've been doing with George, Alex, Nicholas [Latifi] and all the other F1 drivers involved. So that's the goal really, that's what I'm thinking mostly during the day."

Leclerc's desire to play the entertainer has come because he has seen how other people are struggling to cope with lockdown.

"I see how my mum and my brothers are here in Monaco," he said. "And also speaking with all of my friends, it's tough times for people being at home that don't have much to do.

"I've had a lot of positive reactions to what I was doing on Twitch with all the other people saying that it will help them going through these tough times, and it made them laugh. That cheered me up massively and I was very happy to see that, so after I'm just very happy to do it still.

"And also it helps me to be closer to the people that are supporting me and to speak to them in a different way. And they can also see me in a more natural way. So all of this made me push me to continue this."

There is also an element of the sim racing keeping him mentally sharp. For while the handling characteristics of F1 2019 on the PC may be a world away from his actual Ferrari F1 car, the challenges of finding lap time, the need to not make mistakes and the competition of going up against other top-line drivers are very similar to what is demanded in his real-world job.

"The behaviour of the car is never going to be the same as the real one because we don't have g-forces and the car always feels a little bit different, but at the end, it helps me to get my reflexes right and to train my reflexes everyday," he says.

"And also driving a car which might be different to the real one: this is the closest I can get to it for now."

Leclerc is filling his time with training, playing sims for around five hours per day, learning to play piano and guitar and reading books about Ferrari's history

He adds: "I think the sim racing is helping me to stay focused on the goal and to remember that I'm here for racing, and that I'm just waiting to get back in the car. So yeah, we still have the competition in mind by doing races online and this helps us to go through these strange times."

For now life is a little bit on repeat. With no F1 action and a lockdown in place, Leclerc is filling his time with training, playing sims for around five hours per day, learning to play piano and guitar - "I'm not very good at it", he says - and reading books about Ferrari's history.

At some point though, the sim rigs will be turned off and the racing will get real again. And, for all the fun that Leclerc has delivered and had himself, that is when the real joy will return.

Asked what it will feel like to be at the first race whenever it happens, he said: "It's going to be very strange! I mean, it's the first time I think for any of us drivers to not be driving for such a long time.

"So to go straight into free practice one, FP2 and FP3, and then qualifying and the race... I think it's going to be very, very tricky."