Motor racing: Leclerc has a hit with a different kind of track

CHARLES Leclerc is flying low in the Formula One standings but climbing high in the music charts with a different kind of track success.

The Ferrari driver is a keen piano player and this week released a four minute composition entitled 'Aus23 (1:1)' on streaming platforms.

The track was soaring in the Apple iTunes top song rankings alongside hits by the likes of Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Miley Cyrus.

Formula One's official Instagram feed posted a clip of the song at number six on one chart.

"Since the pandemic I started playing piano and it's a way for me to disconnect a little bit from racing," the 25-year-old said at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.

"After posting some stories I realised that many people actually enjoyed the music I was doing and it didn't cost me much to actually basically only record the song and put it out there.

"The response is really good. It's nothing too professional but it's enough for people to enjoy and that's enough for me."

Leclerc said the song might be sad, but it was not connected to the disappointing Australian Grand Prix where he spun into the gravel on the opening lap.

"I had no idea how to call the song and I didn't want to sound like super-professional, trying to think about a name of the song or whatever," he explained.

"So it's basically a timeline. Whenever I exit one song, if I exit it around the Monaco GP it will be 'Mon23' just because its the way we call it for the engineers. Nothing too crazy, just a timeline to understand when I released the music."

On track, Leclerc has had two retirements in the first three races and is 10th overall in the championship with just six points.