Charles Leclerc is not a man who does things halfway. The 29-year-old Monégasque is Ferrari’s standard bearer in Formula 1, a driver who has spent his entire top-flight career wearing red, winning races at Monza, Spa, and most memorably at his home streets of Monaco in 2024, a victory that had an entire nation in tears. Every race weekend, he pilots the Ferrari SF-26, a car powered by a 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 hybrid unit producing a combined output of roughly 1,000 horsepower, a machine worth somewhere north of $15 million when you factor in the total development cost. So when it came to his wedding car, anything less than extraordinary simply wouldn’t do.
Leclerc married long-time girlfriend Alexandra Saint-Mleux in a private civil ceremony in Monaco. The couple drove away from the reception in a car that stopped everyone in their tracks: a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, one of the most iconic and successful vintage race cars in history. Recent auction estimates put its value between $34 million and $38 million, with some examples going higher depending on provenance and racing history.
The Testa Rossa is no ordinary classic. Only 33 units were built between 1957 and 1962, powered by a 3.0-litre Colombo V12 producing around 300 horsepower and capable of 270 km/h. It won Le Mans four times and secured three World Sportscar Championships for Ferrari. The name itself, meaning “Red Head,” refers to the red-painted valve covers on its V12 engine.
Off the track, Leclerc has assembled one of the most enviable personal garages in motorsport. Leclerc’s Ferrari lineup includes the SF90 Stradale, the SF90 XX Stradale, a 488 Pista Spider, a Daytona SP3, and a limited-edition 812 Competizione A, alongside a recently acquired 1960s Ferrari 275 GTB worth around $2.5 million. He is far from alone in his love of vintage Ferraris among racing royalty. Sebastian Vettel has Scuderia cars from his own personal collection maintained at Maranello through Ferrari’s exclusive F1 Clienti programme, while Michael Schumacher’s race-winning Ferrari F2003-GA sold for nearly $15 million at auction in 2022, illustrating just how deeply F1 greatness and Ferrari heritage are intertwined.
For Leclerc, arriving at his own wedding in one of the rarest Ferraris ever built was less a flex and more a statement of genuine identity. The man lives and breathes the prancing horse, on the grid and off it.
