Chief F1 writer Andrew Benson
Leclerc’s decision to sign a new Ferrari contract is no surprise – he said himself many times last year, including in a BBC Sport interview, that he was committed to a future with the team that has nurtured him for many years.
Nor is it out of necessity. Leclerc is one of the biggest stars in F1 – many believe he might even be the fastest driver of all over a qualifying lap – and he was of interest to a number of teams.
Leclerc has signed to stay at Ferrari in a deal that is likely to keep him at the team past his 30th birthday because he believes they are on the path to success.
Not everyone, though, shares his faith.
Ferrari last won a drivers’ title in 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen. The closest they have come in the past decade and a half was when Fernando Alonso narrowly lost out to Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel in 2010 and 2012, but that was a genius driver out-performing cars that lacked absolute competitiveness.
And the last time Ferrari had a car that could have won the title – when they were competitive with Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes in 2017 and 2018 – both the team and Vettel, who replaced Alonso for 2015, dropped the ball too many times.
Leclerc looked like he had a chance himself in 2022, but a bright start to the season imploded in a series of reliability and operational-management failures as Ferrari’s car, initially competitive, slid further and further from the Red Bull pace.
That cost then team principal Mattia Binotto his job, and his replacement Frederic Vasseur inherited last year an uncompetitive car with vicious handling that the drivers found hard to deal with.
But there was conspicuous progress through 2023 as Ferrari first calmed the car’s behaviour and then improved its pace, to the extent that in qualifying at least it was pretty much a match for dominant Red Bull in Leclerc’s hands in the final third of last season. Three poles in the last five races were testament to that.
Leclerc has taken that as a sign that Ferrari are on the right track.
He combines electrifying pace and supernatural car control with a growing on-track maturity, as well as a humble, self-critical nature.
There have been a handful of crashes over the years, but his skewed pole-to-win ratio – 23 poles to five wins – is a reflection of a driver who has the skill to pull speed out of a car few others could, and put it on the grid in a position that belies its true competitiveness. Over a race distance, inevitably, it falls back to its natural position. Ferrari’s propensity to make strategic errors has not helped, either.
Leclerc is more than good enough to win the title in a decent car. He has put his faith in Ferrari, for a healthy stipend. Now it is up to the team to justify it.
