Charles Leclerc just signed a contract extension with Ferrari through 2028. The headlines called it a commitment. A show of faith. A vote of confidence in the Scuderia’s future.
I think it might be the day he locked himself in.
This isn’t about passion. Leclerc’s love for Ferrari is real, documented, and genuine. He’s been dreaming about that red car since childhood. Ferrari has become “a second family” to him, and in a paddock where everything changes rapidly, that kind of loyalty is rare.
But loyalty without leverage is just hope in a different uniform.
Leclerc Bet on Ferrari. Ferrari Didn’t Bet on Him.
The framing matters here. When you hear “contract extension,” you assume both parties wanted it equally. That Ferrari fought to keep their star driver. That Leclerc had options and chose to stay.
The reality is more constrained.
Leclerc’s previous deal was set to expire at the end of 2026. His manager had discussions with Red Bull about replacing Max Verstappen. McLaren were interested in a potential swap involving Oscar Piastri. But McLaren’s driver lineup is locked in. Mercedes has George Russell and Kimi Antonelli for another year. Verstappen is expected to remain through 2027.
The door wasn’t just closing. It had already closed.
Leclerc could have explored the top British-based teams like Mercedes, McLaren, and Red Bull. All three have experienced drivers leading them who have been with their respective teams for years. He would have a difficult time coming in and competing against them. Staying with Ferrari, being their number one driver, and having the team revolve around him is the better alternative.
He will have the same standing as Lando Norris has at McLaren by staying with Ferrari.
But Norris had to wait too. McLaren went through some dark years before it all clicked. The question for Leclerc is simpler and harder: how does he know this time is different?
The Talent Is There. The Results Are Not.
Leclerc has been at Ferrari since 2019. That’s a long time to watch championships slip away.
He’s demonstrated the talent to win against drivers like Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton within the team. He’s won poles despite not always having the best car. In his first 100 races, Leclerc achieved 18 pole positions compared to Verstappen’s just one.
The guy is on a similar level as Max Verstappen in many respects.
The catch is he has always wanted to be with Ferrari and the team knows that. This creates leverage on their part. Staying for so long with the team has limited his ability to go elsewhere as other drivers have entrenched themselves with their teams long-term.
But if Leclerc is on Verstappen’s level, why doesn’t he have a world championship to show for it?
The team hasn’t been able to consistently deliver good cars for him to run. Some seasons, he is competitive and can run at the front. Other seasons, the team is in the doldrums and only getting lower points positions.
Ferrari isn’t as strategically adept as Red Bull or Mercedes, meaning that sometimes good results can escape them.
The team hasn’t delivered. That’s the bottom line.
Eight Wins in Eight Years
Despite establishing himself as one of the elite drivers on the grid with incredible one-lap pace, Leclerc has only had eight grand prix wins. Not exactly what you’d expect for a driver of his caliber.
He has raced more times for Ferrari than any other driver in the team’s history other than Michael Schumacher. He ranks second for pole positions behind the German.
The raw speed is there. The machinery and strategy have not been.
Ferrari threw away winning positions throughout 2022, with a valid argument that they cost Leclerc over a century of points against Verstappen via unreliability and strategy. At Hungary, Leclerc looked certain to win from a comfortable five-second lead, but Ferrari pitted him for hard tires nobody wanted to use, making him a sitting duck to Verstappen before dropping to sixth.
The decision to pit him for slicks moments after putting on the inters cost Leclerc his much-coveted home race win at Monaco.
Ferrari sits second to Mercedes in 2026 but are yet to win a race. The team Leclerc is betting his prime years on hasn’t won a race in over a year and a half. The victory drought now runs to 33 races.
What Has to Change Inside Ferrari
John Elkann and the leadership of Exor and the Ferrari Family need to give Fred Vasseur the time, people, and space to get things in place to win. Putting undue pressure on Vasseur will only stymie progress, not accelerate it.
If Ferrari did more of their chassis and aerodynamic work in the Motorsports Valley of the UK, they would achieve much better results. Getting more British-based talent running the race team would help substantially.
The team did this before in the eighties and during the mid-nineties, which set them up for success during the Schumacher Era.
Most people just remember the trophies. They don’t remember what was quietly assembled behind the scenes to make them possible. Ferrari’s last dynasty was built on British engineering infrastructure and talent.
That model is not being replicated.
All this takes time and effort though. The question is whether Fred Vasseur actually has the political capital inside Ferrari to make those kinds of structural changes.
I think Vasseur is fighting an uphill battle. The fact that he is still with the team is a minor victory on his part. The catch is I don’t think he has the clout to do what he thinks needs to be done.
John Elkann is getting more involved, which is an ominous sign. Ferrari chairman Elkann has been chasing ex-Red Bull boss Christian Horner to potentially replace Vasseur. Reports claim Horner can return to F1 in spring 2026 after a settlement. When the chairman gets this involved and starts publicly undermining his team principal and drivers, it’s never a good sign for organizational stability.
The model that worked before at Ferrari is the road car division stayed out of the way of the racing team, even when things were bad. Unless Vasseur can win over more of the decision-makers at Exor and with the Ferrari Trust, he’s going to continue to struggle in that environment.
Leclerc is essentially betting his prime years on a team where the guy he’s trusting to build something might not have the power to actually build it.
The Company Man Problem
Drivers aren’t just passengers in these dynamics. The best ones shape the team around them.
Charles strikes me as a genuinely decent person who works hard and is incredibly loyal. He is close to his family and friends, he is dedicated to his craft too. This can work against him though as him not leading in a similar manner as a Hamilton, Alonso, or Verstappen creates a vacuum within the team.
They love him, he loves them too. The challenge is to provide direction and guidance when needed.
He has sublime talent, but didn’t come with the results of a Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, or Sebastian Vettel. This means he doesn’t have the heft these other champions brought to the team. Leclerc was a Ferrari junior and started with Sauber before he came to Ferrari.
That makes him “one of ours” which somewhat limits his influence within the team.
Being loved by the team versus being able to lead it are two very different things. Ferrari might need the latter more than the former right now.
Leclerc’s greatest strength as a person is working against him as a force inside that organization.
The Deck Is Stacked
I think the deck is stacked against him, which is really sad.
Without Verstappen on the grid, I think Leclerc would win many races and championships with the right team. He is that good, really an incredible talent that has struggled at the team he loves and has been loyal to.
The happy ending at Ferrari would be John Elkann fades into the background and works closely with Fred Vasseur to get the right people and systems in place to win. Ideally, that would be a presence in the UK for chassis and aero development, top-notch non-Italians in Maranello working on the engine and powertrain systems, and a culture free of toxic politics and blame.
I don’t see this happening though.
A generational talent, at the team he was born to drive for, in an era where the one thing standing between him and greatness might just be organizational dysfunction he has no power to fix.
Max is only a year older than Charles. If Verstappen eventually moves on or retires, does Leclerc’s window actually reopen?
I think Leclerc is stuck unless either the team improves markedly or if he goes to a British-based team. I don’t think either is likely to happen now.
In a few years, many fans will look back at Leclerc’s career and wonder “what if” he had opted to explore different options. He will be loved by Ferrari fans and F1 fans because he is a genuinely likeable guy, but that will be tinged with sadness and regret over a career that promised more than it delivered.
The Fork in the Road
The contract extension we’re talking about today might be the moment historians point to. The fork in the road he didn’t take.
If Leclerc himself were sitting here and asked me one honest thing, I’d tell him this:
Make sure you have exit clauses in whatever contract you sign so you can move to a better, British-based team if the opportunity arises. Your loyalty to Ferrari is admirable but you also need to think of your moves carefully since your prime years will only last so long.
Loyalty must be a two-way street.
