Charles Leclerc has ruled out skipping a Grand Prix for the arrival of his first child, even as the due date closes in on the final weeks of a crowded F1 calendar. The Monegasque driver and his wife Alexandra Saint Mleux are expecting a baby, with the arrival widely tipped to land somewhere in the five-race run from Mexico City to Abu Dhabi.

Leclerc addressed the question directly last week in comments to Motorsport.com, saying his intention is to be in the Ferrari every Sunday.

“No, I don’t think I’ll miss a race. I’ll do absolutely everything to be at home as much as possible in between those races. So, I might arrive a little bit late. But I will be doing the races on Sunday.”

The scenario Ferrari still cannot afford to ignore is a labour that falls on a Thursday or Friday of a race weekend, with Leclerc on a plane rather than in the car.

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Dino Beganovic in the frame

If the call came, the realistic stand-in is Dino Beganovic. The Swedish-Bosnian driver steps up to Ferrari’s reserve role full-time in 2027 after seven years in the Ferrari Driver Academy, but he has already clocked real seat time in the SF-26 this season, taking Leclerc’s car in Austrian Grand Prix free practice and Lewis Hamilton’s in Spain.

That body of 2026 running is the main reason Beganovic sits ahead of Ferrari’s veteran reserve, Antonio Giovinazzi, for a sudden race-weekend call. Giovinazzi still carries the official reserve title for this year and will share the role with Beganovic from next season, as Ferrari confirmed on 16 October. The Italian also has a full WEC programme with Ferrari’s Hypercar effort to balance.

The option that is firmly off the table is Oliver Bearman. The former Ferrari junior famously stood in for Carlos Sainz in Jeddah two years ago, but he is contracted to Haas and would not be released mid-season to bail out his old academy.

Why the shortlist is so short

An F1 cockpit at short notice is not a free-for-all. Any stand-in needs an FIA superlicence, team familiarity with the current car and up-to-date simulator work, which is why the names on Ferrari’s whiteboard thin out quickly. Beganovic’s free-practice outings in 2026 were designed precisely to keep that short list viable.

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Leclerc, for his part, has no interest in finding out whether the plan works. He heads into the Mexico City Grand Prix fifth in the drivers’ standings on 233 points, still only nine points off second in the drivers’ standings, with Russell, Hamilton and Verstappen all within range. The next lights-out is at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on Sunday, 1 November.

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