原文刊载于 New York Times, May.28, 2022, Section A, Page 12

原文标题为《Charles Leclerc, the Thrill Seeker, Fights for the Top》

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/27/sports/autoracing/charles-leclerc-monaco-grand-prix.html

Even away from a racetrack, Charles Leclerc is a thrill seeker.

即使离开赛道，夏尔·勒克莱尔依然在追求刺激。

The Ferrari driver is a trained scuba diver , and this year, he started taking flying lessons. Because of the intensity of a Formula 1 season, Leclerc said it was crucial that he found ways to decompress.

这位法拉利车手是训练有素的水肺潜水员，而今年，他开始参加飞行课程。由于 F1 高强度的赛历，勒克莱尔称找到自我减压的方式至关重要。

“In the first part of a season you can afford to only think about racing, to go from one race to an event, then to the next race, but after 10 races you start to feel tired,” Leclerc said in an interview.

“Over a whole season, you can definitely feel the benefit of having time to relax in between the races, to think about something else, to take time for yourself, with your family, your friends. This is very important.”

勒克莱尔在采访中说道：「在赛季的前半程你可以专注于比赛，从一场比赛到社交活动，再到下一场比赛，但十场比赛后你就开始感到疲惫了」

「在整个赛季当中，你很显然会感受到赛事之间有时间休息的好处，能够去想想别的事情，能够留时间给自己，腾出时间家人、朋友们。这是非常重要的。」

Leclerc said he liked to challenge himself to do new things “with a little bit of adrenaline.” It is the reason — along with a slight fear of flying — that he decided to learn to fly.

“I’ve never been particularly confident in a plane,” he said. “This is something that has pushed me, even more, to pass my plane license so if ever something went wrong, I would understand it all and I can be in control.”

勒克莱尔说他喜欢自我挑战一些「激发一点肾上腺素」的新事物，这也是他决定学习开飞机的原因——另一个原因是，他有一点害怕坐飞机。

「我在飞机上总会有点不安」勒克莱尔说道，「这是推动我考飞行执照的原因，更进一步说，这可以让我一旦在飞行中遇到什么问题时也能搞清状况并控制住。」

When there was no Formula 1 racing in the first half of 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, Leclerc also taught himself to play piano.

“I play the piano quite a bit to disconnect my mind from racing, and it works well,” Leclerc said. “With scuba diving, it is the same. It provides me with a challenge to always go deeper, deeper, deeper.”

在因为新冠疫情肆虐而取消的 F1 2020 上半赛季里，勒克莱尔自学了钢琴。（其实我觉得可以去拜师77。）

「我弹钢琴是为了让我的思维远离赛车，这很有效。」勒克莱尔说道，「水肺潜水也是同样，它能让我不断向更深的深度发起挑战。」

He finished seventh in the driver standings in 2021, but after six races this year, Leclerc, who was born and raised in Monaco, has fallen behind going into his home Grand Prix on Sunday. His lead was 46 points after the first three races, but the reigning champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull. has won the last three to hold a six-point advantage.

勒克莱尔以车手积分榜第七结束了 2021 赛季，但是在今年的 6 场比赛后，这位出生成长在摩纳哥的车手却在这周末家乡的比赛前落后了。他在赛季初的三场比赛后榜首领先 46 分，但是红牛车队的卫冕冠军麦克斯·维斯塔潘赢下了后续的三场比赛并领先了勒克莱尔 6 分。

Leclerc, who is in his fourth season with Ferrari, said he was “still living the dream” he had harbored since his karting days of driving for the Scuderia, but he was anxious to play down his title aspirations.

“I am confident if we keep working well, the results will come,” he said. “That’s the approach I want to maintain for the rest of the year. I don’t want to tell myself, ‘OK, we are really fighting for the championship’ because this adds a lot of pressure.”

这是勒克莱尔为法拉利车队效力的第四个赛季，他表示自己仍然怀揣着自效力法拉利卡丁车队起的梦想，但他淡化了自己对冠军的渴望。

「我有信心我们继续努力的话会取得收获，」他说道，「这就是今年剩下时间里我的态度。我不想对我自己说：『OK，我们真的在为世界冠军而战』，因为这会增加很多压力。」

The title race is a renewal of the rivalry with Verstappen that dates back to the two 24-year-old drivers’ karting days, when Leclerc said they despised each other.

“We raced together for four or five years, and every race we would be fighting for wins,” he said. “We were also young and crazy, and we hated each other. But now we have grown, we are more experienced, we have both realized our dream to be fighting in F1, so the relationship has changed.”

这场世界冠军的争夺，是他和维斯塔潘这两位 24 岁车手自卡丁车时期开始的竞争的延续，勒克莱尔说那时候他们并不待见彼此。

「我们一起竞争了 4、5 年，每场比赛我们都在互相争胜」勒克莱尔谈到，「我们那时候幼稚又疯狂，讨厌着彼此。但是现在我们长大了，有了更多的经验，都在 F1 赛场上为我们的梦想而战，所以我们的关系改变了。」

Like Leclerc, Verstappen said he could look back on their karting scuffles with amusement.

“We have matured a lot,” he said. “We grew up through go-karting from 12 years old and we are very similar in age, so we had a lot of go-karting battles you can laugh about now.

“We made our way into Formula 1 and we are in two top teams fighting for race wins. I hope it can continue for a long time.”

和勒克莱尔一样，维斯塔潘说他现在也能快乐地回忆他们之间的卡丁车大战。

「我们已经成熟了很多」维斯塔潘说道，「我们自 12 岁起就一起开着卡丁车长大，我们之间的年龄也很相近，所以留下了许多至今仍很可笑的卡丁车大战。」

「我们都进入了 F1，在两支顶级车队里为比赛的胜利而战。我希望能保持这种竞争。」

In the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in April, Leclerc allowed pressure to get to him when he spun while chasing Sergio Pérez of Red Bull for second place. Leclerc went on to finish sixth.

在 4 月的意大利伊莫拉（艾米利亚·罗马涅）大奖赛上，压力之下的勒克莱尔为了第二名的位置追赶红牛的佩雷兹时陀螺了。最后勒克莱尔只取得了第六名。

In an interview, David Coulthard, a former Formula 1 driver, questioned if Leclerc had what it took to be a champion.

“After his victory and performance in Australia, with the way Charles performed there, I was like ‘Wow! This is Michael Schumacher again’,” Coulthard said.

“But then after what we saw in Imola, he still has an Achilles’ heel, he’s still making mistakes. Max has got rid of those unforced errors. Red Bull put Ferrari under pressure, and he made the error, so that’s the chink, and those little chinks make you think twice.”

在采访中，前 F1 车手大卫·库特哈德质疑勒克莱尔是否有条件成为冠军车手。

「夏尔在澳大利亚站表现出色并取得胜利后，我有了『哇，这就是又一位迈克尔·舒马赫』的感觉。」库特哈德说道。

「但是在我看了伊莫拉大奖赛后，我觉得他仍存在着阿喀琉斯之踵（意即弱点，译者注），他仍然在犯错stupid。Max 已经摆脱了这样的受迫性失误。红牛给法拉利施加了压力，他就犯了错，这就是他的弱点，正是这样的弱点让人三思。」

Frédéric Vasseur, the Alfa Romeo team principal, has seen Leclerc mature since his debut season with Sauber in 2018, when Vasseur was in charge. He has no doubt Leclerc can handle the demands of a title fight with Verstappen.

“I have been convinced from the beginning he is a great driver,” Vasseur said of Leclerc, who won the GP3 title in 2016 and was the Formula 2 champion the following year. “From what he did in the junior series, from his first year with us, now he is in a different situation because there is a huge step in terms of attention and pressure.

“There is also a mega-difference between being a contender able to win one or two races during a season to a title contender because you can’t do a mistake, you can’t lose too many points, and you have to manage each race and the season. I am confident he can do that.”

阿尔法罗密欧车队领队费雷德里克-瓦赛尔 (Frédéric Vasseur)， 见证了勒克莱尔 2018 年在他率领的索伯车队的 F1 菜鸟赛季，他毫不怀疑勒克莱尔能够与维斯塔潘争冠。

瓦赛尔谈到了勒克莱尔在 2016 年取得 GP3 冠军，并在之后的一年取得了 F2 冠军的经历：「我一早就确信他是位伟大的车手，从他少年时期的比赛、从他和我们共战开始，而现在他处在注意力和压力变化巨大的不同境遇中。」

「在一个赛季中能够赢得一两场比赛的冠军与世界冠军之间存在着巨大的差异，因为你不能犯错误，你不能丢掉太多积分，你必须处理好每一场比赛和整个赛季。 我相信他能做到这一点。」

Leclerc said the mistake in Imola was one he would learn from and not repeat. He is fueled by the memories of his father, Hervé, a former Formula 3 driver who died in 2017, shortly before his son signed his first Formula 1 contract.

“When I started winning in karting when I was 7 years old, naturally, you think you are the best, but he was telling me ‘Calm down, Charles’,” Leclerc said. “He was always telling me to stay humble. It was the first thing he ever taught me when I was winning, which has been very useful ever since.”

勒克莱尔说，他会从伊莫拉的失误中吸取教训不再重蹈覆辙。 他常从关于父亲的记忆中获得鼓舞，勒克莱尔的父亲埃尔韦 (Hervé) 是一名前 F3 车手，于 2017 年去世，仅仅在他的儿子签下自己的第一份 F1 合同前不久。(2018 年勒克莱尔进入 F1，译者注)

「当我 7 岁开始在卡丁车比赛中获胜时，自然地，我会认为自己就是最棒的，但是父亲和我说告诉我『冷静点，夏尔』」勒克莱尔说，「他总是告诉我要保持谦虚。 这是我获胜时他教给我的第一件事，自那时起一直都很受用。」

Since 2011, Leclerc has also been supported by his manager, Nicolas Todt, the son of Jean Todt, the former president of the F.I.A. There is also a strong family network that includes his brother Arthur, who is racing for a second season in Formula 3 this year.

自 2011 年以来，勒克莱尔也得到了他的经纪人，尼古拉斯·托德（Nicolas Todt, 小托德）、也就是国际汽联前主席 (FIA) 让·托德（Jean Todt）儿子的支持。 勒克莱尔也有着包括兄弟亚瑟在内的大家庭，今年将是亚瑟参加 F3 的第二个赛季。

Another important person in Leclerc’s life is Jules Bianchi, his godfather, who died in July 2015 from brain injuries he sustained in a crash during the Japanese Grand Prix nine months earlier.

“We were always extremely close,” Leclerc said. “There was definitely an extremely strong connection, and that remains the case through to today.

“At the end of 2010, when my father didn’t have the money to keep me going in karting and it was looking like it was going to be my last year, Jules was kind enough to speak about me to Nicolas who then paid for everything for me until I reached Formula 1.

“So without Jules, I would be nowhere,” he said. “He also taught me so many things when I was younger that allowed me to take my first steps in car racing and have been fundamental for my career and for me as a person. Jules will forever be with me.”

勒克莱尔生命中另一位重要人物是他的教父——朱尔斯·比安奇（Jules Bianchi），他于 2015 年 7 月因为九个月前日本大奖赛中撞车事故所导致的脑部损伤而去世。

「我们一直很亲密，」勒克莱尔说， 「我彼此之间始终有着紧密的联系，持续至今。」

「2010 年底的时候，我父亲无力负担我继续卡丁车比赛了，我以为那将是我最后一年参加赛车比赛。但朱尔斯 (Jules) 很热心地找到尼古拉斯说起了我，后来尼古拉斯承担了我所有的比赛费用，直到我进入 F1。

「所以如果没有朱尔斯，就不会有我的赛车生涯。」勒克莱尔如此说道，「他在我还小的时候教会了我许多东西，让我迈出了赛车生涯的第一步。他对我的赛车生涯和人生都至关重要 。 朱尔斯将永远与我同在。」

本文由站主 Aki 全文翻译，如有谬误还请指教。

封面图片来自：https://weibo.com/5662735146/LuQRJhyaL