The announcement that Charles Leclerc has committed his long-term F1 future to Ferrari hardly came as a surprise, but the timing was of particular significance regarding the team’s intentions.
Following the end of the last season, it had been a case of when rather than if Leclerc would renew. While he has been associated with Ferrari in a professional capacity since being inducted into its academy in 2016, the Monegasque’s relationship with the brand can be traced back to watching the red cars threading their way through the Monte Carlo streets that surround his childhood home.
Leclerc has since entered the top five for the highest race starts with F1’s most celebrated side. Providing he remains for the duration of his rumoured deal through 2029, he would then rise straight to the top of that very list.
Therefore, it seemed implausible to imagine a world where he would not be racing draped in scarlet red. And it would not be an exaggeration to proclaim that Leclerc’s synonymity with the Prancing Horse emblem and its tifosi has now extended to match the bond that Michael Schumacher once shared.
Leclerc is still waiting to be rewarded for his longevity with a fragment of the success the illustrious German achieved during his spell, though, with just five wins coming since he was promoted to the senior set-up in 2019.
However, that reflects more on Ferrari’s shortcomings than a patch on its star driver. Except for a handful of occasions, he has never been in possession of the fastest car nor had the consistent platform to flourish.
On the rare weekends when Ferrari has brought a competitive package which has been the envy of the competition, a myriad of factors ranging from unreliability to operational errors to development missteps have tended to stall the team’s momentum before it has had a chance to gather speed.
More often than not, it has been Leclerc who has suffered from Ferrari’s mismanagement and been the brunt of the negative headlines when things haven’t entirely gone to plan.
But Leclerc’s unwavering loyalty to Ferrari has led him to pledge his faith in the camp’s continued pursuit of renewed F1 title glory.
Although there is no guarantee that the potential next five years will deliver more triumphs than the previous five have yielded, Leclerc has signed up for a rebuild with the trust he will be at the centre of the project.
Despite his speed never being in question, Leclerc has not been prioritised by Ferrari in the same way Red Bull has formed around Max Verstappen to such devastating effect.
The response both teams had to the start of the 2022 title fight was telling. While Red Bull answered its protege’s complaints and romped to a title double, Ferrari’s fixation on aiding the struggles of Leclerc’s underperforming team-mate rather than building on a position of strength contributed partly to the troubles it has endured since.
Ultimately, Ferrari needs Leclerc more than the driver is dependent on the team. With McLaren moving to lock down Lando Norris’ services, the Maranello squad’s alternatives for a ‘franchise’ replacement have dwindled.
But even with that possible bargaining tool being swept from the table, Leclerc has proven countless times that with the right environment beneath him he has the skillset to spearhead Ferrari’s return to the pinnacle.
The failures that derailed a promising beginning to the latest ground effect regulations in 2022 cost Mattia Binotto his place as Team Principal, but the Italian’s exit appeared intertwined with Ferrari ensuring it would not run the risk of also losing Leclerc.
Binotto’s management concept of absolving individuals from blame for faults clashed with Leclerc’s mindset of honesty and taking accountability for mistakes that are made.
Meanwhile, his replacement, Frederic Vasseur, has struck the optimum balance that both Binotto and Maurizio Arrivabene couldn’t. The astute Frenchman has been well-received within the team, who have been receptive to his chosen leadership methods.
The appointment of Vasseur to the helm – a figure Leclerc knows and trusts wholeheartedly from earlier in his career – was a masterstroke that has reinstated his belief in Ferrari going forward. It also signified the dawn of a revised era that would put Leclerc at the forefront, which has now been solidified with the new contract.
Ferrari will continue to insist that its two drivers are treated as equals, but actions speak louder than words. With both drivers’ deals expiring at the end of 2024, announcing the extensions simultaneously would have been the optimum way to reiterate that stance in the public domain.
It speaks volumes that talks with Leclerc materialised without a hitch, while negotiations with Sainz have stalled. Having secured Leclerc’s services for the desired period, Ferrari has the upper hand when it now comes to dealing with Sainz’s renewal.
Ferrari would be hard-pressed to hire an alternative that retains the speed Sainz has, but with its focus shifting more towards Leclerc, the team wouldn’t be short of options when it came to a driver willing to slot in and fulfil a de facto number two role.
While it may seem harsh on Sainz to be shuffled back, he has been given three seasons to prove his worth. The end result is that he’s reaffirmed that he’s an extremely talented driver in his own right but lacks the added edge that can raise a team’s ceiling.
Meanwhile, the blistering speed that Leclerc has been renowned for over a single lap has evolved into an assured performer who has all the credentials of a certified title winner.
The last eight rounds of the previous term once Leclerc had rediscovered his confidence in Ferrari’s capricious SF-23 car highlighted how it’s counterproductive to place a cap on his talent purely to satisfy the individual on the opposite side of the garage.
Sainz has been left with the choice to accept the unconditional terms presented or gamble elsewhere on a team with much bleaker prospects than Ferrari has at present.
But for Leclerc, his future is set in stone and the onus is on Ferrari to ensure that it delivers on the promises it’s laid out that led to him putting pen to paper on an extension.
Amid rumours of exit clauses setting in beyond 2026, Ferrari will be under intense pressure across the transition into the upcoming rules change to produce the package that enables Leclerc to exploit the untapped potential that has only been seen in glimpses across the past five seasons.
Ferrari’s response to the concerns that resulted in an uncertain period in the opening rounds of the previous campaign was encouraging and has placed the team in good stead to chase Red Bull down in 2024.
Regardless of whether Ferrari is successful in the mission to end its protracted championship drought, both the team and Leclerc will head into F1’s newest era comforted that they are aligned on one shared objective for the first time in a while.
Leclerc constitutes Ferrari’s best chance of toppling the Verstappen-Red Bull juggernaut; the timing and terms of his latest contract reflect that the team finally feels the same.
