- Charles Leclerc and his wife Alexandra announced the birth of their first child, a daughter named Bianca, on Instagram on November 4, a day after she was born, per Motorsport.com.
- Congratulations came from Carlos Sainz, Alain Prost, Ferrari, Mercedes, the FIA president and Eva Longoria, and F1 Academy looked ahead to Bianca on the grid.
- Ferrari confirmed that Leclerc would arrive late for the Brazilian Grand Prix and skip Thursday’s media day, with Dino Beganovic set to drive his Ferrari in first practice.
A Daughter Named Bianca Lands in the Middle of Ferrari’s Mexico Fallout
A photo of a newborn’s legs and feet in pink knitted leggings and white socks carried the biggest news of Charles Leclerc’s week. The Ferrari driver and his wife Alexandra posted the photo on Instagram on November 4. The caption gave a name and a date of birth: Bianca, 3.11.26. Their first child, a daughter, arrived on November 3.
The Monegasque is 29. He finished fourth at the Mexico City Grand Prix and flew home to Monaco before the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend. The Mexico weekend left Ferrari with an open argument between its two drivers: Lewis Hamilton finished second, Leclerc fourth, and the pair clashed. Leclerc blamed the track layout for it. Team principal Fred Vasseur disagreed. Hamilton demanded talks afterward. Within days, the conversation around Leclerc had a different subject.
A Family That Started Before the Baby
The Leclercs married on February 28 this year in a private civil ceremony in Monaco. A bigger wedding is planned for 2027. They have been together publicly from early 2023 and announced their engagement in November 2025.
The pregnancy was never announced by the couple. Rumors began on the Friday of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, when a video showed Alexandra arriving at the paddock with a visible bump. Leclerc confirmed in September, on a Live Chat on Ferrari’s Threads account, that he was going to become a father.
He had already spoken about it in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, where he described fatherhood as “very, very special” and added: “I’m just really looking forward to it.”
He went on: “We already have one son in Leo, because we already consider him as a son, and it will be great to become a parent for a second time.”
The same interview asked what he does when racing stops.
“Spending time with my wife, with Leo, with my family and my friends. This is probably the number one thing I try and do whenever I’ve got free time, because it’s not so often that we get it.”
He also described how he splits his time.
“The balance is very natural in itself, because the priority remains all the on-track activity and whatever makes me better as a driver and what we can do better as a team. Then, whatever is left, I spend it on the projects I enjoy.”
How the Paddock Replied
The replies under the post came from every corner of the sport. Carlos Sainz, Leclerc’s former Ferrari teammate, led the drivers and welcomed Bianca by name.
“So happy for you. Welcome to the world Bianca,” Sainz wrote. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri added: “Congrats to you both!” Alpine’s Pierre Gasly kept it short: “Congrats!!!”
Former drivers followed. Alain Prost, a four-time world champion, and Jean Alesi both raced for Ferrari. Prost wrote: “Congratulations to both of you ! Welcome Bianca. Wish you all the happiness” Alesi wrote in French: “Bravo à super maman et super papa” Adrien Tambay, a former DTM driver, sent a fatherly message: “félicitation à vous deux Charlot. Best thing on earth for a dad to have a little daughter… enjoy”
The teams and the sport’s institutions joined in. Ferrari commented: “Huge congratulations to you both!! Wonderful news” Rival Mercedes wrote: “Welcome to the world, Bianca! Huge congratulations to you all” Formula 1 posted: “Congratulations!!” The FIA wrote: “Congratulations!” and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem followed with his own message: “Congratulations to you both!” Formula 2 added: “Congratulations to the both of you” and Silverstone replied: “Congratulations!”
F1 Academy was already thinking ahead. Its reply: “Congratulations! Maybe we’ll see her on the grid in the future…”
People closer to the grid joined too. Max Verstappen’s sister Victoria wrote: “Congrats!” and his mother Sophie Kumpen wrote: “Congrats” Rebecca Donaldson, Sainz’s partner, kept her message to three words: “the most precious” Former Sky F1 presenter Rachel Brookes wrote: “Wonderful news. Huge Congratulations!”
The news reached well beyond racing. Actress Eva Longoria wrote: “Ahhhhhh congratulations!” Model Nara Smith wrote: “Ahhh congratulations” Natalia Bryant wrote: “Congratulations!!” and singer Charlie Puth wrote: “Congratulations to you both!!!”
The Name Bianca and the Godfather Leclerc Still Talks About
The caption gave the name and the date and nothing else. The name has already drawn a link to Jules Bianchi, Leclerc’s godfather and close friend, who died in 2015. Neither the caption nor any of the replies says the couple chose it for him.
What Leclerc has said about Bianchi explains why the link followed. Bianchi, the Marussia driver, died on July 17, 2015, aged 25, nine months after he crashed into a recovery vehicle at Suzuka in extreme wet conditions at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. Bianchi grew close to Leclerc through Leclerc’s older brother, Lorenzo, who was his friend. On the tenth anniversary of Bianchi’s death, Leclerc looked back on the first thing he remembers.
“The first memories that I recall of Jules are not of Jules the driver, but rather Jules the person, as I experienced him a lot more as a human being rather than a racer.”
He described a house where Bianchi was always around.
“We spent so much time together growing up and both of our families were and still are extremely close. My older brother and him were best friends, so he was always around.”
Then came the story of a night in front of a horror movie. Leclerc said: “I’ve got some stories from that time, like the first horror movie I watched was actually with Jules. He didn’t know I was pretending to be asleep. He was trying to make sure that I was asleep because he wanted to watch that movie with my older brother!”
He praised Bianchi’s character in plain terms: “Jules was such a genuinely nice person. He was very funny and he had his crazy moments when you got to know him very well. He was just always happy to help and very happy to have fun as well.”
Leclerc keeps his most special memories from the karting track, which Bianchi’s father managed. He said: “Normally rental karts are for adults but his father was managing the track and obviously was letting us do things that maybe we were not too allowed.”
He went on: “I looked up to him so to be racing with him, with my older brother, with his younger brother, and many, many other professional karting drivers at the time was incredible.”
Then he described the evenings. “We had so much fun. We would hang out and wait for the karting track to close to the public so we could get on. Then we’d go crazy on track for hours and hours. These are probably the most special memories I have.”
The competitive streak belongs to Bianchi, in Leclerc’s telling. “Jules was the most competitive person I’ve ever met and I feel like I have that competitiveness in me because of Jules. When we were doing some races in karting, there was that competitiveness but also in the most stupid things we did at home, there was exactly the same competitiveness. He would get so frustrated when he lost anything!”
His closing thoughts were about the person. “There are some people where you can see through their eyes, through their smile, how good of a person they are – and I think Jules is one of them.”
And: “This is probably the most important thing for me to remember from Jules – how kind of a human being he was and how dedicated he was to try and reach his goals.”
Leclerc carried that tribute onto the track in April 2024. At the Japanese Grand Prix, a decade after the Suzuka crash, he ran a helmet mirroring Bianchi’s design with Bianchi’s number 17 logo. After Friday practice he explained what the helmet meant to him: “Once you put the helmet [on], I’ve got to think of whatever’s going on on the track, but obviously it was a very important sign for me to do here.”
He spoke about the Bianchi family too: “I had spoken to the family, we’re always in contact and always speak because it’s basically the same family, and we’ve always been extremely close. They were so, so happy that I had asked to use the helmet.”
And about Bianchi himself: “I’m really happy, obviously. Jules is still there and needs to be remembered. If I’m here today in Formula 1, it’s thanks to him. So, it was important for me to wear this helmet and I hope I can have a great weekend.”
Brazil Without Him on Thursday
Round 20 of the 2026 season is the Sao Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos on November 6 to 8. Ferrari confirmed that Leclerc, who went home to Monaco to be with his family, would arrive late in Sao Paulo and miss the Thursday media day. Dino Beganovic is set to drive Leclerc’s Ferrari in first practice, which starts Friday at 3:30pm GMT. The race is on Sunday, with lights out at 5pm GMT.
One More Name on the Grid’s List of Fathers
Leclerc joins Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg as fathers on the current grid. Alonso said this summer that becoming a father altered his sense of how many more seasons he wants, and Aston Martin confirmed on September 29 that he will race for the team again in 2027. The story of Fernando Alonso’s newborn son shows how that thinking took shape.
Leclerc’s own answer about free time starts with his wife, Leo, his family and his friends, and a daughter now joins that list. Nineteen rounds of the season are done and the Sao Paulo weekend is next. Bianca is three days old, and her father’s weekend opens with another driver in his car.
