24 May 2023 , 16:50
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Charles Leclerc disproved a report that contract renewal negotiations have begun with Ferrari.
The Monegasque has a little over 18 months to run on his current deal with the Scuderia, which he signed back in 2019. And Ferrari will also have to resolve the future of his team-mate Carlos Sainz in the same timeframe.
Prominent Italian Formula 1 journalist Giuliano Duchessa reported this week that talks have begun between Leclerc and his team over an extension, with chairman John Elkann supposedly personally involved in discussions. However, speaking to La Gazette de Monaco, the 25-year-old made it clear that this is not the case.
"No, I haven't set myself a deadline to deal with this," he said. "We will see when the time comes, the discussions have not yet started and I think it is Fred [Vasseur, team principal] who will have to be asked the question. A year and a half left on the contract is still a long time and it is normal that there are no talks in progress."
Leclerc has been linked with a move to Mercedes if he was to decide against agreeing to a Ferrari renewal. While he was not willing to comment on those rumours, he did speak about how being the subject of such speculation is a new experience for him.
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"So far, I had not been subject to rumours," he said. "When I joined Alfa Romeo it was straightforward and then, to everyone's surprise, I was announced at Ferrari during the season... Since then, there has never really been any doubt because I have a long contract with the team, which ends at the end of next year.
Ferrari are said to be readying a contract offer for Lewis Hamilton (Sergei Grits/AP/REX/Shutterstock)"I love Ferrari, I always dreamed of driving for this team. These rumours don't really affect me and I'm mostly trying to focus on what there is to do on the track, because we are not yet at the level where we would like to be."
Meanwhile, Ferrari are said to have prepared a £40m contract offer to tempt Lewis Hamilton to make a sensational switch from Mercedes at the end of this year. The 38-year-old is not expected to retire and has been in negotiations with the Silver Arrows over a new deal.
But Ferrari are ready to try to hijack those negotiations in a desperate attempt to end their F1 title drought. The Scuderia's last such success came in 2008, when they took the constructors' title despite Hamilton beating Felipe Massa to drivers' championship glory.