Charles Leclerc: Ferrari driver fuels Mercedes speculation with ‘not yet’ denial

Leclerc has had a difficult start to the new season

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc insists he has not held talks with Mercedes – but fuelled claims of a potential move by adding “not yet” to his denial.

The 25-year-old is under contract to Ferrari until the end of 2024.

Asked whether he had had any conversations with Mercedes, he said: “No, there have not been any conversations. Not yet. Not for the moment.”

Leclerc added that he was “fully committed to Ferrari”.

He continued: “I love Ferrari,” and said a move was “not something in my mind”.

Asked if Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff had called him, Leclerc replied: “No. Zero. Zero. Really zero. You all smile because you don’t believe me, but I promise.”

Leclerc has for some time been said to be Wolff’s number one option if Lewis Hamilton chooses to leave Mercedes.

The seven-time champion’s contract runs out at the end of this season. Both he and Wolff have insisted on numerous occasions that Hamilton will stay and a new contract is only a matter of time.

Leclerc said: “For now, I am fully focused on the project I am in today, which is Ferrari. And I fully trust and am confident for the future. Then we will see, but I am fully confident for the project of Ferrari.

“It has always been a dream for me to be in this team and my main priority is to win a world championship with this team. So it’s not something in my mind.”

Asked about Leclerc being linked to Mercedes, Hamilton said: “Maybe some of the drivers will speak or have relationships with different bosses and stuff. I like where I am, I love my team and I think I’m grateful for the journey we’ve been on and what we’re working on moving forward so… doesn’t have any impact, no.”

Leclerc, widely regarded as one of the fastest drivers in Formula 1, has had a difficult start to the new season, scoring only six points in three races and retiring from two of them.

This time last year, he was leading the championship, before Ferrari’s season imploded with a series of reliability failures and strategy errors.

Team principal Mattia Binotto paid the price for Ferrari’s slump last year, and has been replaced by Frederic Vasseur, who has a close relationship with Leclerc having worked with him in the junior categories and in the driver’s debut F1 season with Sauber in 2018.

Ferrari signed Leclerc to an unusually long five-year contract after an impressive first season with the team in 2019, making it clear he was their choice to lead the team for the future.

Vasseur said on Thursday that he had not yet started conversations with Leclerc about a new contract.

“We will do it in the course of the season. He’s under contract with us for more than one year [from] now, and we have time to discuss it,” he said.

“And I’m not scared at all, and I think it’s not the right moment to do it.”

Vasseur admitted Leclerc was “frustrated” by Ferrari’s form but added: “I like it. Honestly, we had the discussion and for me the frustration is positive.”

Vasseur added: “He’s clearly part of the project, you know? He’s not a spectator of this.

“He’s involved in the development of the team, he’s part of the development because he’s developing himself. He’s a performance contributor, on track and out of the track. And as long as he will play this role, we are on a good path.

“It’s true in every single team that you are always building a team around the driver. If you have a look over the last 20 years, or even more, all the successful stories in F1 took time but it was always a team built up around someone, a driver.

“It’s true with Lewis with Mercedes, but it was true before with Michael [Schumacher] at Ferrari, it was true with [Fernando] Alonso at Renault, it was true everywhere – and Red Bull. You can find tonnes of examples.

“For sure Charles is an important pillar of the performance and he has to play the role, in the car, outside of the car, to be a performance contributor.

“And he is fully supportive of this part of the job and I’m fully convinced that it’s also a personal commitment from him.”

While Leclerc has had a difficult time on track this season, he has achieved success off it – a piano track he wrote and released has proved a hit this week.

F1’s official Instagram feed posted a clip of the song at number six on one chart.

“Since the pandemic I started playing piano and it’s a way for me to disconnect a little bit from racing,” Leclerc said.

“After posting some stories, I realised that many people actually enjoyed the music I was doing and it didn’t cost me much to actually record the song and put it out there.

“The response is really good. It’s nothing too professional but it’s enough for people to enjoy and that’s enough for me.”