Charles Leclerc isn’t completely happy. No experience in psychology is required to acknowledge that, or to know the the reason why. He just lately described himself and teammate Lewis Hamilton as “passengers” in a automotive they will’t get something extra out of, the final vestiges of hope of salvaging one thing from a bitterly disappointing season having pale.
Nevertheless it’s larger than simply 2026 for Charles Leclerc, who can really feel the quiet ticking of the clock getting a bit louder as his 28th birthday looms. In F1 phrases he’s now in center age, and he’s bought there with out ever driving a automotive ok to struggle for the world championship.
There’s little question he’s able to doing so. Most drivers on the grid imagine they will do this, and they’re going to actually all say so, however Leclerc has proved it with persistently excellent performances in equipment that’s typically good however by no means nice. Not solely has he demonstrated prodigious skill since his early days in karting and frequently refined that to the purpose the place he’s rightly considered top-of-the-line in F1, however he’s additionally demonstrated he can take the struggle to F1’s present high canine, Max Verstappen.
Keep in mind the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix, in the course of the temporary spell within the first a part of the season when the Ferrari seemed prefer it was a real title contender, when he outwitted Verstappen in a straight struggle for victory late within the race? He’s not at all times come out on high, however the truth there have periodically been flashpoints the place the 2 have gone head-to-head through which he held his personal has lengthy meant a title showdown between the pair appeared their future. You wouldn’t blame Leclerc for fearing that he may by no means get the possibility to struggle for the title with Verstappen, or anybody else for that matter, as a result of he’s hitched his wagon to the unsuitable Prancing Horse.
Leclerc first joined Ferrari in F1 for his second season in 2019 after only one massively spectacular season within the midfield with Sauber. He noticed off four-time world champion teammate Sebastian Vettel, albeit by then a driver floor down by his personal expertise of Ferrari underachievement, politics and failure, and regardless of being pushed arduous at instances was total the stronger Ferrari driver throughout Carlos Sainz’s 4 years alongside him. He’s additionally up to now seen off Lewis Hamilton comprehensively. Meaning Ferrari is and not using a shadow of a doubt his workforce, and has been for a while.
The query is whether or not it’s a workforce you’d actually need to spearhead. By the requirements of most, Leclerc’s had a profitable time there, successful eight races and ending second on the earth championship in 2022. However these are the statistics of a superb grand prix driver, and Leclerc is greater than that. The proof is there in his qualifying numbers, which some unfairly use as a persist with beat him with. Of his astonishing tally of 27 pole positions, simply 5 have been transformed into victories. Some argue that signifies a qualifying specialist, a driver able to throwing collectively spectacular, on-the-limit laps however restricted in race circumstances. Nonetheless, that’s not Leclerc. It’s true he’s regarded by many because the quickest over a lap in F1 at present and that’s supported by a string of exceptional pole positions – no one can dance on the razor-thin restrict as persistently as he does, not even Verstappen.
There are events when this has been the results of a unprecedented lap in a automotive that’s not the quickest, significantly on avenue circuits, however typically it’s been the consequence of a automotive that could possibly be the quickest in qualifying trim however didn’t have the race tempo to remain on the entrance. He can dance on the bounds of physics, however like all drivers he’s nonetheless certain by them and on race day the automotive regresses to the imply. Sure, he’s needed to work at bettering points of his recreation comparable to tire administration, however he’s achieved so nicely and has constructed a robust physique of labor on Sundays.
The jury remains to be out on whether or not Leclerc can win a championship towards, say, Verstappen in related equipment, however solely insofar as there are at all times doubts till a driver is in that scenario. He’s ticked all of the bins up to now, has the respect of his friends and deserves the possibility to check himself.
What’s extra, as a aggressive animal he wants to take action, and that’s what has made this yr so robust. Many instances this yr he’s spoken with remorse of the sky-high expectations after Ferrari’s sturdy 2024 and near-miss within the constructors’ championship that disappeared within the early months of this yr. The issues began to manifest themselves in testing when the Ferrari didn’t look sturdy, have been confirmed by the early struggles and changed by the hopes that upgrades, notably the rear suspension modifications launched at Spa in July, would at the very least permit some good outcomes to be salvaged from 2025.
He admitted in the course of the latest Singapore Grand Prix weekend that when “you don’t even see a development all year long, it’s not simple” and that “it takes a number of vitality” to handle the frustration. Disappointing performances there and within the previous occasion in Azerbaijan, the place he performed a giant half in his personal struggles by crashing in Q3, seem to have knocked what wind stays out of his sails.
Ferrari’s final world title got here when it gained the constructors’ championship with Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa in 2008 (above) and it’s a must to return one other yr to land on its final drivers’ championship, which got here courtesy of Raikkonen. Leclerc would like to be the one to finish Maranello’s shedding streak – however is Ferrari working out of time to provide him a automotive ok to take action? Mark Thompson/Getty Pictures
Drivers are all too conscious how tough it’s in trendy F1 to get your self into the place to problem for a drivers’ championship. Leclerc shall be glancing enviously at Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at McLaren, probably feeling he’s higher than each and deserves that high quality of equipment. He’ll be asking himself if Ferrari actually can ship such a automotive and little question making an attempt to commerce off his want to stay with the workforce he loves for the lengthy haul with understanding he can’t merely depart his profession to likelihood. Ferrari hasn’t gained a world championship since its constructors’ triumph again in 2008, a document drought, and Leclerc’s confidence in Fred Vasseur’s revolution can have been shaken by this yr. He wants solely have a look at Fernando Alonso for a warning of what occurs if you find yourself within the unsuitable workforce.
Alonso’s place in F1 legend as a terrific is assured, however the numbers don’t do him justice compared to the statistics racked up by Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and his previous rival Michael Schumacher due to his final victory being an astounding 12 years in the past. No matter whether or not you blame Alonso for poor decision-making, burning bridges or plain unhealthy luck, it exhibits how simple it’s to freeze your self out of rivalry for titles. That Alonso fell out with Ferrari simply earlier than it returned to successful methods, which led to 2018 and a automotive that maybe might have given him a shot on the championship, can be a warning to be very assured in your judgment if you wish to depart Maranello, given its prodigious potential.
So the place will Leclerc’s considering at present stand? Proper now, he can’t form his future till he is aware of the place Ferrari traces up within the 2026 order. He can have an thought of the place it is perhaps, however realistically it’s not possible to make sure and it gained’t be till the 2026 vehicles, with their brand-new energy models and dramatically overhauled chassis guidelines, hit the observe that conclusions can begin to be drawn. Even then, there’s the likelihood that efficiency profiles is perhaps everywhere in the map and will imply it should take a while earlier than a transparent sample emerges.
Nonetheless, as soon as ’26 has settled down with a small however important pattern set of occasions, he’ll know. If Ferrari appears to be like in unhealthy form, that’s its basis for the whole guidelines cycle shaken and Leclerc can begin including extra possible fallow years to his age. The precise size of his contract is unclear, but it surely runs to at the very least the tip of 2028 and can take Leclerc into his early 30s. Ferrari must rebuild his confidence in it early in ’26, or absolutely he’s obligated to look elsewhere.
Proper now, the place he may go is not possible to say. Leclerc can survey the panorama in early 2026 to know that are probably the most fascinating groups and the place there is perhaps a chance, however that’s unknowable proper now. Each single workforce in F1 can be desirous about him, the query is how the opposite chess items are organized. Due to this fact, the query gained’t solely be ought to he depart Ferrari, but additionally the place he ought to go.
Leclerc’s dream shall be that Ferrari is the place to be. He’s been on its books since being signed by the Ferrari Driver Academy again in 2016 and goals of taking his place in legend as a Ferrari world champion. If he does so, it should have an analogous impression to Michael Schumacher ending the 20-year drivers’ championship drought when he gained the 2000 championship. Proper now, that is yr 18 of an analogous dry spell stretching again to Kimi Raikkonen’s title in ’07. That’s how important a determine Leclerc might change into in Ferrari’s historical past.
What’s clear is he should make an goal and dispassionate determination. F1 careers are quick and if he’s completely sure that Ferrari gained’t give him the equipment, he not solely wants to maneuver for a shot on the title, but additionally to keep away from the danger stagnating as a driver if he stayed in an atmosphere that he’s misplaced confidence in. The hope shall be that he doesn’t should take this dramatic plan of action and that Ferrari can get better subsequent yr, rendering 2025 nothing greater than a blip. It’s not not possible, as regardless of the widespread expectation the Mercedes energy unit shall be strongest, that’s hasn’t but been confirmed, whereas the ’26 automotive would be the first conceived underneath the technical management of Loic Serra.
One factor is for certain: Leclerc will hold performing as finest he can in what has, total, solely been the fourth-best automotive this yr regardless of nonetheless being within the hunt for second within the constructors’ championship. And whereas he’s doing so, he’ll really feel the light time strain virtually imperceptibly creeping up in depth as he awaits what he’ll nonetheless really feel with absolute conviction is his future of successful the world championship.
He’ll hope the conundrum is solved by Ferrari delivering, however he should be much less sure of that taking place sooner or later than he’s ever been.
