When Charles Leclerc tapped Nicolas Jayr to help with a YouTube video, the opportunity came as a complete surprise.
Jayr, who led brand marketing for Formula 1 and the creative agency Race Service, had briefly worked with the Ferrari driver on brand activations at the 2022 Miami Grand Prix. Then, a few weeks later, he began to receive a sudden barrage of WhatsApp voice messages from Leclerc, who wanted to create a vlog in his home country, Monaco. Three months later, Jayr joined what would later become a 15-minute vlog titled “24 Hours in Monaco,” which featured Leclerc at his most intimate; the F1 star played padel with his family, perused a grocery store, and cruised along La Mer. It was the perfect little window into Leclerc’s off-track life — and came at the sweet spot of the sport’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive-powered boom. Naturally, it wasn’t long before the video became a fan favorite. This October, it crossed 10 million views.
What was initially pitched as a one-off project evolved into a years-long partnership. Not only did Jayr become a go-to consultant for Leclerc’s creative tasks, but after that first video and a handful of follow-up projects, the star athlete returned with a proposal that Jayr couldn’t resist: last March in Bahrain, Leclerc pitched Jayr on becoming a co-founder and CEO of a budding business alongside Leclerc and his closest collaborator, Antoine Truchet.
Eighteen months later, Leclerc and Truchet’s idea has become SIDEQUEST, a creative studio that aims to bridge the gap between sports and cultural storytelling through athlete collaborations, fashion projects, and original IP. In September, they worked with Chivas Regal on their Crystalgold announcement, launching the clear whisky with a cinematic campaign featuring Leclerc playing chess and sipping Chivas on an elaborately designed set. Last month, the trio worked with AS Monaco’s star midfielder Paul Pogba as he moved into the ambassador role at the fashion jewelry brand APM Monaco. With an ethos rooted in “anti-vanity,” the Monaco-Amsterdam-based studio highlights authentic narratives instead of the superficial glitz associated with celebrity.
Truchet, a photographer and filmmaker who travels the world with Leclerc, knows that the Ferrari driver’s vision for the agency begins and ends with authenticity and curiosity. Their job is to transmit Leclerc’s style of sharing himself with the world to the brands and athletes that will hire SIDEQUEST.
“He’s not trying to be anyone else. He’s the same in person as he is on TV or in public, and one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met,” Truchet says. “We’re passionate about the human side of everything.”
A self-proclaimed “athlete-as-auteur,” Leclerc has been solidifying his presence outside of the sport; he has forayed into music, fashion, and even low-calorie ice cream. The name “SIDEQUEST” is a cheeky nod to a meme about Leclerc’s many off-track projects. “My fans often comment on my ‘side quests,’ and honestly, I take that as a compliment,” Leclerc explained in a press release. “These aren’t distractions — they’re part of how I think, express myself, and create.”
To understand SIDEQUEST, you have to understand the trio behind it. Truchet has shot nearly every minute of Leclerc’s time on and off the track these last three years, and has become one of the most respected photographers in the paddock. (The amazing shots of Leclerc on the hill at Zandvoort? Those were Truchet’s. Leclerc’s swan dive into the water at Monaco? Also, Truchet. Leclerc on a yacht with his dog Leo? Probably Truchet’s shot too.) Jayr spent years at Wieden+Kennedy and Formula 1, and has an expertise in creative strategy. And Leclerc brings the name recognition, of course, but also is a rarity in the sports world: an athlete/aesthete.
“Usually, these athletes feel that the [attention and creative workload] can be too much and step away from it for a bit, or they have somebody tell them what to do,” Truchet says. “The good thing is we know [Charles] quite well. We know what he’s gonna like and not gonna like — but even with that, I can never guarantee whether a choice of carousel or captions is gonna work. He will always have his own style and way of doing things. We’re all creative, but so is Charles.”
The SIDEQUEST trio in Monaco
Together, the SIDEQUEST team offers three different perspectives to the brand: the mind behind the business side, the artist who creates the visual language, and the talent at its forefront.
But, certainly, Leclerc’s central role — representing a new generation of athletes that owns their online life — elevates SIDEQUEST above your average creative studio. “Charles is not afraid to do anything,” Jayr says, “There’s never a big PR plan behind [what he does]. There was no intention other than putting things out in the world, and it’s a mindset that is very true to his generation.”
Establishing a company with a Formula 1 star comes with its own set of challenges. Time is a precious commodity for F1 drivers, who typically spend over 200 days a year traveling to various tracks around the world. “We were aware that every interaction [we had with Charles] couldn’t be wasted,” Jayr says. The same is often said of Sir Lewis Hamilton, a multi-faceted force in and out of the sport who has embarked on a slew of endeavors over his career. The key to working with an F1 driver? “Enlisting a team of people whom you can trust,” adds Jayr, “and translating [Charles’s vision] to life.”
That insider knowledge of being on display is a potential advantage for SIDEQUEST, but it only adds value if Leclerc is involved enough to bring it to action. Jayr has been floored by just how involved the star driver has been. “He’s always thinking of clients at shoots — he’ll make sure there’s a Zoom link available for those who couldn’t come in person. Athletes don’t usually think about that — they don’t even want to be there most times,” Jayr says. “They’re being paid to be somewhere, but Charles always thinks about every layer of making an experience better. It’s not just for him, but for everybody.”
Jayr and Truchet emphasize that SIDEQUEST isn’t just a motorsports agency — it’s an open canvas for creative projects with limitless possibilities. And thanks to years spent putting Leclerc’s foolproof content formulas to the test, the duo is confident that their perspectives could serve other people — athletes especially — looking for modern and relatable ways of presenting their ideas.
Truchet explains that starting a creative agency today — as AI has started to infiltrate the creative ad space — feels a bit like entering the music industry 20 years ago, right when streaming changed everything. But while the new technology might be a shortcut for some, Truchet believes that the human touch remains an essential piece of connecting athletes and brands with an audience. And he would know: his rare relationship with Leclerc has helped define the way the world understands and interacts with the driver. “We’re interested in telling real stories,” Truchet says. “I don’t think this is ever going to go away, so that’s what we want to focus on.”
