Charles Leclerc just 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.
But it surely’s greater than simply 2026 for Charles Leclerc, who can really feel the quiet ticking of the clock getting a bit of louder as his 28th birthday looms. In F1 phrases he’s now in center age, and he’s obtained there with out ever driving a automotive ok to combat for the world championship.
There’s little doubt he’s able to doing so. Most drivers on the grid imagine they will do this, and they’ll actually all say so, however Leclerc has proved it with constantly excellent performances in equipment that’s typically good however by no means nice. Not solely has he demonstrated prodigious capability since his early days in karting and regularly refined that to the purpose the place he’s rightly thought to be among the finest in F1, however he’s additionally demonstrated he can take the combat to F1’s present prime canine, Max Verstappen.
Bear in mind the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix, throughout the transient spell within the first a part of the season when the Ferrari regarded prefer it was a real title contender, when he outwitted Verstappen in a straight combat for victory late within the race? He’s not all the time come out on prime, however the reality 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 would possibly by no means get the prospect to combat for the title with Verstappen, or anybody else for that matter, as a result of he’s hitched his wagon to the mistaken Prancing Horse.
Leclerc first joined Ferrari in F1 for his second season in 2019 after only one vastly 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 onerous at occasions was total the stronger Ferrari driver throughout Carlos Sainz’s 4 years alongside him. He’s additionally to this point seen off Lewis Hamilton comprehensively. Meaning Ferrari is with out a shadow of a doubt his group, and has been for a while.
The query is whether or not it’s a group you’d actually wish to spearhead. By the requirements of most, Leclerc’s had a profitable time there, profitable eight races and ending second on the earth championship in 2022. However these are the statistics of an excellent grand prix driver, and Leclerc is greater than that. The proof is there in his qualifying numbers, which some unfairly use as a keep on 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. Nevertheless, that’s not Leclerc. It’s true he’s regarded by many because the quickest over a lap in F1 immediately and that’s supported by a string of outstanding pole positions – no one can dance on the razor-thin restrict as constantly as he does, not even Verstappen.
There are events when this has been the results of a rare lap in a automotive that’s not the quickest, significantly on avenue circuits, however typically it’s been the consequence of a automotive that may very well be the quickest in qualifying trim however didn’t have the race tempo to remain on the entrance. He can dance on the boundaries of physics, however like all drivers he’s nonetheless sure by them and on race day the automotive regresses to the imply. Sure, he’s needed to work at bettering elements of his sport reminiscent of tire administration, however he’s finished so nicely and has constructed a robust physique of labor on Sundays.
The jury continues to be out on whether or not Leclerc can win a championship in opposition to, say, Verstappen in related equipment, however solely insofar as there are all the time doubts till a driver is in that scenario. He’s ticked all of the bins to this point, has the respect of his friends and deserves the prospect 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 occasions this yr he’s spoken with remorse of the sky-high expectations after Ferrari’s robust 2024 and near-miss within the constructors’ championship that disappeared within the early months of this yr. The considerations began to manifest themselves in testing when the Ferrari didn’t look robust, 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 no less than permit some good outcomes to be salvaged from 2025.
He admitted throughout the latest Singapore Grand Prix weekend that when “you don’t even see a development all year long, it’s not straightforward” and that “it takes a number of power” 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 you must 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 operating out of time to present him a automotive ok to take action? Mark Thompson/Getty Photographs
Drivers are all too conscious how troublesome it’s in fashionable F1 to get your self into the place to problem for a drivers’ championship. Leclerc might 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 doubt attempting to commerce off his need to stay with the group he loves for the lengthy haul with understanding he can’t merely go away his profession to probability. Ferrari hasn’t gained a world championship since its constructors’ triumph again in 2008, a report 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 mistaken group.
Alonso’s place in F1 legend as an excellent is assured, however the numbers don’t do him justice compared to the statistics racked up by Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and his outdated rival Michael Schumacher because of 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 dangerous luck, it reveals how straightforward it’s to freeze your self out of rivalry for titles. That Alonso fell out with Ferrari simply earlier than it returned to profitable methods, which led to 2018 and a automotive that maybe may have given him a shot on the championship, can also be a warning to be very assured in your judgment if you wish to go away Maranello, given its prodigious potential.
So the place will Leclerc’s pondering presently stand? Proper now, he can’t form his future till he is aware of the place Ferrari strains up within the 2026 order. He can have an thought of the place it could be, however realistically it’s unattainable to make sure and it gained’t be till the 2026 automobiles, 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 could be all around the map and should imply it should take a while earlier than a transparent sample emerges.
Nevertheless, as soon as ’26 has settled down with a small however important pattern set of occasions, he’ll know. If Ferrari seems to be in dangerous 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, however it runs to no less than the tip of 2028 and can take Leclerc into his early 30s. Ferrari must rebuild his confidence in it early in ’26, or certainly he’s obligated to look elsewhere.
Proper now, the place he would possibly go is unattainable to say. Leclerc can survey the panorama in early 2026 to know that are essentially the most fascinating groups and the place there could be a possibility, however that’s unknowable proper now. Each single group in F1 could be all for him, the query is how the opposite chess items are organized. Subsequently, the query gained’t solely be ought to he go away Ferrari, but additionally the place he ought to go.
Leclerc’s dream might 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 may turn out to be in Ferrari’s historical past.
What’s clear is he should make an goal and dispassionate resolution. 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 surroundings that he’s misplaced confidence in. The hope might be that he doesn’t must take this dramatic plan of action and that Ferrari can recuperate subsequent yr, rendering 2025 nothing greater than a blip. It’s not unattainable, as regardless of the widespread expectation the Mercedes energy unit might be strongest, that’s hasn’t but been confirmed, whereas the ’26 automotive would be the first conceived beneath the technical management of Loic Serra.
One factor is for certain: Leclerc will maintain 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 mild time strain nearly imperceptibly creeping up in depth as he awaits what he’ll nonetheless really feel with absolute conviction is his future of profitable the world championship.
He’ll hope the conundrum is solved by Ferrari delivering, however he should be much less sure of that occuring sooner or later than he’s ever been.
