The timing is significant. Leclerc is only contracted to Ferrari for one more year after this season, and he is undoubtedly considering his options for the crucial next stage in his career: a deal that takes him up to his 30s, a time when he should be in prime form to challenge for the title.
Rumours abound after Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said last month that Leclerc was on his “radar”, as he negotiates a new deal with Lewis Hamilton for next year. There were unsourced reports that the Monégasque had been talking with the team, perhaps about a 2025 contract. It could all have been dismissed as a ploy to unsettle Ferrari, except that Leclerc has fanned the flames.
When asked if he had contract talks with Mercedes in Baku, he replied: “Not yet. Not for the moment.” The implication was clear.
Leclerc’s lifelong love of Ferrari
Drivers often talk about signing for a particular team being their dream. For Leclerc, there was no doubt. As a child, he and his father Hervé cheered on the Scuderia and, in the days before Hervé’s death from cancer in 2017, Leclerc told him that he’d signed to drive for Ferrari in F1 for 2019. It was completely untrue at the time but Leclerc did indeed sign a contract that saw him on the grid in a Ferrari in 2019.
Leclerc was at Le Mans to witness Ferrari’s victory after 50 years away, paying close attention from the pit garage and saying that he too would be keen to take part in future.
Leaving the team would be no simple decision, but Leclerc’s reaction to the latest in a series of setbacks suggests that he;’s tiring of the situation.
Ferrari’s 2020 engine settlement
Take the disastrous 2020 season, Ferrari’s worst campaign for 40 years. The team had been frontrunners in 2019, when Leclerc won twice and climbed to third in the championship. Then came the engine settlement after many months of suspicion over how Ferrari had managed to produce an engine that was noticeably more powerful than those of rivals.