Ferrari will make Formula One history during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend with the first-ever same family line-up.
The Prancing Horse will have two brothers driving in an F1 session as teammates which was once a dream of F1 icon Michael Schumacher.
Ferrari have confirmed Charles Leclerc‘s younger brother Arthur will be joining him in FP1 at the Yas Marina Circuit on Friday.
The latter will be seated in Carlos Sainz‘s car in what is the Spaniard’s final weekend at Ferrari before he’s replaced by Lewis Hamilton.
The younger Leclerc, who will also be involved in the post-season rookie test at Abu Dhabi, is currently a Ferrari development driver.
The 24-year-old has raced in F3 and F2 but spent this season driving in the European Le Mans Series for Panis Racing.
His older brother Charles is hoping to help the Maranello outfit clinch the Constructors’ Championship after the unique slice of history.
The Monegasque duo will be the first brothers to share the track in an F1 grand prix session since Michael and Ralf Schumacher.
However, the Leclerc pair are the only ones of the ten siblings to have raced in motorsport’s elite to have done so in the same team.
The most famous of them were the Schumachers, who both debuted in F1 with Jordan – but at different times.
Seven-time world champion Michael, who is six years older than Ralf, burst onto the grid in 1991 – six seasons before his brother followed.
By then, the name Schumacher was synonymous with F1 and the two drivers do hold the accolade of the first brotherly one-two in history.
Ferrari legend Michael intervened at great personal cost to rescue Ralf from Jordan and facilitate his move to Williams in 1999.
In an interview with F1 journalist Peter Windsor on YouTube, team owner Eddie Jordan said: “It ended well for all of us because Michael Schumacher paid me two million quid to tear up the contract with Ralf, which I was very happy to receive I must tell you.”
“It’s true – Nothing ever passes Jordan’s doorsteps without somebody paying for it.
“In this case, it was Michael Schumacher and it was my little way of getting him back for all those years that went passed. No problem!”
Ralf eventually landed at Toyota before bowing out of F1 in 2007 with six wins and 21 podiums – 85 and 134 fewer than Michael.
The 49-year-old has revealed that he would have loved to have been teammates with his brother but explained why it never happened.
“It would have been amazing, but on the other hand the problem was always… first of all there was never really an opportunity,” Ralf told the Formula for Success podcast.
“And second, one of us would have always lost. I don’t know whether that would have been good from a marketing point of view or a relationship point of view between brothers. Going back, it would have been amazing to share a season together.”
Having never shared an F1 garage, the Schumacher siblings spent a decade racing each other for rival teams.
Ralf has insisted that track battles never caused friction in the family, adding: “I have to say it was very open.
“I knew what he was doing and he knew what I was doing. It was always good to be able to talk to somebody that you could trust.”
Ralf, who came out publicly this year, recently attended the wedding of Gina-Maria Schumacher, his niece and daughter of Michael.
He found an unlikely ally in Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who condemned his father’s controversial comments toward him in Las Vegas.
Leclerc, meanwhile, will join forces with Sainz for one final race weekend after completing opening practice alongside his brother.
The 27-year-old is already gearing up to form an all-star team with Hamilton but Ferrari have been warned on how to manage them.
Leclerc’s former F1 teammate Romain Grosjean told talkSPORT Driving: “Yes, Ferrari’s definitely a team to keep an eye on, and they’re definitely on the rise for next year, which could be super exciting.
“Lewis could have made the right move at the right time, for sure, joining Fred Vasseur at Ferrari.
“But Charles is kind of the kids that they saw growing up there. So it’s not going to be easy to manage.
“I’m not going to lie to you and for sure, Charles wants his chance to be world champion, and then Lewis wants the chance to get that Eight World Championship that should probably have had.
“So it will be good to see. All I really want as a fan is to see Ferraris’, McLaren, Red Bull, and hopefully, Mercedes, being at the front and fighting, and not knowing who is going to be on top of a weekend and I think that’s what makes Formula One exciting.”
