Charles Leclerc - Ferrari F1 contract renewal in stand-by

Priority to results
“The renewal? It’s not urgent. The priority now is to win“. “Mercedes? There is no negotiation, I feel very good at Ferrari“. With these comments, Charles Leclerc had dismissed before the start of the 2023 F1 championship both the issue of his contract renewal with Scuderia Ferrari, as his current deal will expire at the end of the 2024 Formula 1 season, following rumours about his Formula 1 future and the interest that Mercedes seems has expressed towards him: Toto Wolff considers the Monegasque – together with Lando Norris – the main candidate to replace Lewis Hamilton when the British champion hangs up his helmet.

However, those comments date back to well before the Bahrain Grand Prix, in which Charles Leclerc did not even see the checkered flag due to a problem with the power unit. But above all in Sakhir the #16 Ferrari realized that the red single-seater, once again, does not seem able to challenge its direct opponents. Max Verstappen and Red Bull are therefore once again the main favorite in the battle for the world title. And this discovery evidently did not make him particularly happy.

Tensions at Ferrari
In addition to this, there is the environment, not exactly an ideal one, which has been making things even more difficult in the Maranello factory in recent months. The latest in order is the resignation handed in by aerodynamic chief David Sanchez, who will move most likely to McLaren, and the emergence of constant rumors relating to disagreements between CEO Benedetto Vigna and the new team principal Frederic Vasseur, who is very close to Charles Leclerc.

Furthermore, journalist Leo Turrini, a well-known Ferrari insider, always aware of what is going on in Maranello, explicitly wrote in the Quotidiano Nazionale newspaper that “other heads will fall”. The main figure, from several sources, seems to be that of race director Laurent Mekies. In this context, anticipating the announcement of a contractual extension with Charles Leclerc would perhaps have brought a little stability and confidence to the whole environment with a view to the future. The history of Formula 1 is full of cases in which a driver with a contract still available for one more year eventually separated from his team, taking a different path. Most recently this was the case of Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly and Oscar Piastri in 2022. Charles Leclerc is also very close to president Elkann, but obviously he wants to start winning.

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The rumors arriving from the United Kingdom – source Sky Sports F1 UK – and which talk about the possibility of a swap between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, with the Englishman that could be heading to Maranello and the Monegasque to Brackley. Most likely this is only normal speculation given the difficult moment of both Ferrari and Mercedes, but the fact that the British driver’s contract expires at the end of this year is also true and contributes to fueling the uncertainty.

Everyone takes the renewal of the seven-time world champion for granted and in Brackley the priority remains to convince the #44 to sign a new deal. But it is clear that even Mercedes will sooner or later have to think about who will replace Lewis Hamilton. Charles Leclerc has said several times that he wants to win with the Maranello team, but time continues to pass – for the moment – in vain. And Mercedes, despite the flop of recent seasons, is still a brand considered a guarantee for potential success. The next few months could be decisive. The feeling is that Charles Leclerc wants to receive concrete and encouraging signals from Scuderia Ferrari. Because for the moment, as Leo Turrini also wrote, although the Monegasque wants to win in Maranello, “the marriage between Charles and the Lady in Red is creaking. Not from today.”