Scuderia Ferrari need to mount a title challenge in the next Formula 1 season if they want to avoid losing Charles Leclerc in the near future, as the Maranello team was warned that rivals Mercedes and Red Bull “would love” to convince the Monegasque driver to agree to a shock move.
This is the view of Sam Bird, the British professional racing driver who currently drives for Jaguar TCS Racing in the FIA Formula E World Championship. The 35-year-old was recently asked about how Charles Leclerc could feel after a difficult 2022 F1 campaign, marked by several power unit reliability issues for the F1-75, but most importantly by several poor strategical calls from the Maranello team, which prevented Charles from taking at least three race wins last season, in front of his home crowd in Monaco, at the Silverstone circuit and in Hungary.
These factor, alongside Ferrari’s poor in-season development, did not allow Charles Leclerc to challenge Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for the Drivers’ championship in 2022. The Italian side now have to make a step further and prove it can support the Monegasque driver in his quest to become world champion
Some feel that Charles Leclerc also fell out with former team principal Mattia Binotto during last season as a result of the unfortunate outcomes in several race weekends, which raised the possibility of the Monegasque star maybe considering an early exit if things do not improve. Sam Bird was interviewed by the BBC in the latest episode of the Chequered Flag Podcast:
“Every team would love to get the services of Charles Leclerc. Of course they would. I mean, he’s one of the best drivers on the grid. He would dearly love for Ferrari to come out the traps next year with a car that can fight Max Verstappen, because Charles Leclerc will fancy himself against Max Verstappen. He will be going into the winter thinking, ‘I didn’t have the car, they didn’t give me the car, and if they give me the car, I’ll fight this guy, and we’ll go head to head.’” – the British professional racing driver pointed out.
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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted a long time ago that he would always leave a door open to the possibility of signing top drivers like Charles Leclerc or Max Verstappen:
“I would be surprised if both of these young drivers have committed to their teams for five years and closed the door to everywhere else. Contracts are often more complex than the media portrays. As long as we have a fast car, because this is our first priority, we will always have a situation where we can choose who drives it.” – the Austrian manager said, according to Auto Motor Und Sport
While Max Verstappen has a long-term contract with Red Bull and would have a hard time joining Mercedes after their fierce battle for the titles in the 2021 campaign, Charles Leclerc has a contract with Ferrari that is available for just two more years, when most likely Lewis Hamilton will be taking into considering his retirement from the sport. Red Bull will also consider the idea of having a top driver line-up by replacing Sergio Perez, whose contract will also expire at the end of the 2024 championship.
Charles Leclerc was asked last year about the rumours linking him to Mercedes in 2024 and confirmed he was happy at Ferrari, while also not completely dismissing the idea of joining a rival team at a certain time in the future. Asked by the French magazine L’Equipe about Mercedes’ interest, Charles Leclerc claimed he was “happy with Ferrari” but admitted responded ”we’ll see’ when pushed on his future in Formula 1:
“2024 is a long time away and there is still a little time left at Ferrari. This team has always been my dream. My objective at the moment is to win with Ferrari and then we’ll see. I am very happy with Ferrari and I want to win with them.” – the Ferrari man explained.
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