Leclerc out to win titles Bianchi 'deserved' with Ferrari

Charles Leclerc says he hopes to win the titles that his friend and mentor Jules Bianchi "deserved to win" as he prepares for a potentially career-defining switch to Ferrari in 2019. Leclerc has reportedly been lined up to replace Kimi Raikkonen in 2019 after a superb start to life in F1 with Sauber.

Like Leclerc, Bianchi was a Ferrari junior driver tipped with a promotion to the Scuderia's main roster, although the chance did not materialise before his death in 2015 following a horrifying crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.

Bianchi and Leclerc were childhood friends and the Monegasque driver has often credited Bianchi as a key influence on his racing career.

With a move to a potentially title-winning team now on the cards, Leclerc hopes to honour his former mentor by going on to enjoy the kind of career with Ferrari that Bianchi had been tipped for.

"He was extremely important. My father and his father were best friends, and our families are extremely close," Leclerc told Crash.net.

"I drove for the first time karting on his track, and he was there. Then I think we were meeting up every Wednesday and on weekends just to drive rental karting. These are probably the best memories I have in racing. It was so much fun, and so much learned also.

"He was older than me, so you always push yourself to beat him. They are very good memories. But he was more than a mentor. He was also an extremely close friend, a bit like family."

Leclerc added: "He will have probably deserved this place more than I do.

"If one day I have the chance to be there, I will try to do everything I possibly can to win the titles that he deserved to win."