Charles Leclerc turned up in Miami this week with the usual Ferrari glare following him around the paddock — only this time it wasn’t just about lap time.
Away from the circuit, Leclerc and his wife Alexandra have just taken delivery of a new Riva superyacht, launched in La Spezia, adding another statement piece to a lifestyle that increasingly sits comfortably alongside the day job of being Ferrari’s lead act. The boat is a 102’ Corsaro Super, and Riva marked the moment with a video showing the couple in attendance along with their dog, Leo, as the yacht hit the water for the first time.
Alexandra performed the traditional launch, breaking a bottle of champagne across the bow ahead of the maiden voyage — a ritual the yachting world treats with more seriousness than some F1 teams treat a Friday run plan. It’s a neat snapshot of Leclerc’s off-track universe: polished, deliberate, and a little bit Riviera even when the calendar says Florida.
The Corsaro Super has been tailored to Leclerc’s taste, with bespoke exterior details and his input extending into the interior touches and furnishings. Online valuations put it at roughly €11 million. It’s not exactly subtle, but then again neither is being a Ferrari driver in 2026 — your life is public property the moment you put on the red overalls, whether you like it or not.
If anything, this is less a sudden splurge and more a continuation. Leclerc already owns another Riva, the 82’ Diva, and this new purchase reads like an upgrade rather than a whim. There’s a certain logic to it: drivers spend most of their season in metal boxes built to the millimetre and engineered for control; when they get a sliver of time back, it tends to be spent in another kind of machine, just one that moves at a pace you can actually enjoy.
Not that the Corsaro Super is exactly slow by normal standards. Its engines are quoted at 2,638 horsepower, with a top speed of 28 knots — around 32mph — which is practically walking speed compared to what Leclerc deals with on Sundays, but enough for the sort of coastal hopping F1’s Monaco set specialises in. On board, it comes with the sort of amenities you’d expect at this level: a fully equipped bar unit and a beach club area among the highlights.
Ferretti Group CEO Alberto Galassi didn’t miss the chance to frame it as a meeting of kindred brands, praising Leclerc’s repeat business as validation of Riva’s “beauty, liveability and technology”, and describing the relationship as “reciprocal” — the kind of language luxury companies love because it suggests a partnership rather than a transaction.
For Leclerc, it’s another reminder that the modern F1 driver is asked to be more than quick. You’re a walking brand, a global face, someone expected to look at home whether you’re stepping out of a Ferrari in the paddock or christening a yacht in northern Italy. Some lean into that; some tolerate it. Leclerc, increasingly, seems to understand the assignment — and to be enjoying it.
Miami, of course, is a fitting backdrop. If any race on the calendar rewards glossy optics as much as outright pace, it’s this one. And while Ferrari’s weekend will ultimately be judged in tenths and tyre life, Leclerc has already arrived having made a bit of noise elsewhere — the kind that doesn’t show up on the timing screens, but still travels fast through the F1 ecosystem.
