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WATCH: Leclerc turns stunt driver as he blasts a Ferrari SF90 around Monaco for new film
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Although the Principality of Monaco was originally due to reverberate to the sound of 20 F1 cars circulating around it on Sunday, May 24, the locals did get to hear at least one Ferrari engine in action on the day, when Charles Leclerc boarded a Ferrari SF90 Stradale to be directed by Claude Lelouch in a short film, Le Grand Rendez-vous.
Leclerc drove the 1,000bhp Ferrari road car around closed roads in Monaco and neighbouring France in a shoot that paid homage to Lelouch’s original 1976 cult film C’etait un rendez-vous.
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That film – still shrouded in mystery and intrigue to this day – famously features a continuous, single eight-minute shot taken from the front bumper-mounted camera of a very fast-moving car being driven (in a decidedly illegal fashion) through the streets of Paris.
Former Ligier driver Jacques Laffite was rumoured to have been behind the wheel in the original film, a claim which Lelouch has denied (he says he did the driving himself) while the car is said to have been Lelouch’s own Mercedes 450 SEL, with the sound then overdubbed with the engine noise of a Ferrari 275GTB.
And although Lelouch worked in partnership with the Monegasque and French authorities this time around – he’d reportedly used his guerrilla filming tactics in 1976 when his request to shut down the streets for filming was refused – Leclerc still managed to clock speeds of up to 150mph on the day in the hybrid Ferrari SF90 Stradale.
Check out the teaser video up top – while the full film of Le Grand Rendez-vous, featuring a brief cameo from HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, is due for release on June 13.
READ MORE: Leclerc insists 'there was always respect' between him and departing team mate Vettel
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