Frederic Vasseur prioritizing early Charles Leclerc renewal – Reports
According to reports, Frederic Vasseur intends to lock down Charles Leclerc at Ferrari as soon as possible to eliminate the threat of him going to Mercedes.
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Charles Leclerc
Frederic Vasseur started work at Ferrari on January 9. Right now, preparing the team for the upcoming season (and introducing small changes for the better) will be on his agenda. The strategy will be especially important – they cannot afford to make the same mistakes as in 2022. But another thing to keep in mind is to lock down the drivers. In particular, Charles Leclerc.
The threat of Leclerc being fed up with Ferrari, and leaving for greener grass at Mercedes looms ever large. His current contract, like with Carlos Sainz, runs until the end of 2024. Lewis Hamilton’s current contract runs until the end of 2023, and he hasn’t yet signed an extension – discussions aren’t underway either. If the Monegasque is dissatisfied with the team in 2023, he may well leave after his contract expires.
When earlier asked about rumors of Mercedes’ seeking him as Hamilton’s replacement, Leclerc did not definitively say ‘no’ to moving to the German team: “There is still a long way to go until 2024 and some more time left as a soldier in the ranks of Ferrari. Being in this team has been my dream since I was a kid. My goal for now is to win with Ferrari. After that, we’ll see.” he said, as per GPBlog. This could potentially be taken as a warning sign.
So, considering the potential threat of their star driver leaving for a rival, it’s very possible that Vasseur will look to start renewal talks with Leclerc ‘immediately after the start of the 2023 season’, as per Motorsport.com’s Italian arm. This will follow the example set by McLaren and Red Bull, who have locked down Lando Norris (to 2025) and Max Verstappen (to 2028!) respectively.
Vasseur intends to ‘lock down’ Charles Leclerc’s future at Ferrari soon
So, as per the report, Frederic Vasseur intends to lock down Charles Leclerc’s future with the team, preferably soon. The first step towards this would be providing him with a car capable of fighting for the world championship in 2023 – which looks good. The second will be to make sure that the engine unreliability and the strategic issues which frustrated the Monegasque on a couple of occasions in 2022 are not present once again.
The renewal could be helped along by the good relationship that Vasseur and Leclerc share and could be key in repairing the ‘fractured’ relationship between the management and the Monegasque that jhas earlier been reported. Even if the threat of him going to Mercedes isn’t so large at the moment, it’s better to nip it in the bud. How 2023 goes for him will be key in his future with Ferrari.
In case you missed it:
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)