Charles Leclerc signs new long-term contract with Ferrari

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has agreed a new long-term contract with the team.

The deal for the 28-year-old comes in the build-up to his home Grand Prix in Monaco this weekend.

Leclerc signed his last deal in 2024 and Ferrari say this renewal will keep him with the team for the "coming seasons".

The Monegasque has competed in 155 races for the Italian outfit since joining in 2019, winning eight times, and he is currently third in the drivers' championship.

He has a superb record in Monaco. In the past six years, he has qualified on pole three times, been second on the grid twice and third once.

"I couldn't be happier to continue this journey with Scuderia Ferrari HP," he said.

"It has always been so much more than just a team to me. It's the team I've loved and dreamt of being part of since I was a child, and after all these years it has become a second family.

"Together we've shared incredible moments and some tougher ones, but I believe in this team more than ever, and I'm deeply grateful that we will keep pushing side by side toward our shared goal of bringing the World Championship back to Maranello.

"Being a Ferrari driver is a dream, but it's also a responsibility I never take for granted.

"I'll continue to give absolutely everything I have to bring this team back to where it belongs, at the very top, for everyone in Maranello, and above all for the tifosi, whose passion is the heartbeat of this Scuderia."

Team principal Fred Vasseur added: "Charles has been part of the Ferrari family for many years now and this renewal feels like something very natural for us.

"Over these seasons we have seen him grow, to become not only one of the strongest drivers in Formula 1, but also a person who is completely at one with the team and everything Ferrari represents.

"We appreciate his talent, we love his determination and the way he approaches every day with the people in the Scuderia, both on and off the track. We know how much this project means to him and we are happy to continue working towards our shared goals."

Charles Leclerc announced the renewal of his Ferrari contract with a lavish video on social media professing his love for the team.

Leclerc, now 28, has been racing for Ferrari in F1 since 2019, been on their driver academy since 2016, and their protege since he was 14.

He referenced how joining them had been like "living a dream". He said Ferrari were "family", adding: "Maybe that is exactly what makes this moment to special. For me, it's always been clear. The dream is still alive, and I'm proud to continue chasing it together."

That dream is to win the world championship together. And it remains as elusive as ever.

Since joining Ferrari in 2019, Leclerc has both established himself as one of the absolute elite F1 drivers, and won only eight grands prix.

That's a pretty poor reward for a driver many regard as perhaps the fastest of all over one lap, in the sport's historically most successful team.

It is a reflection not on Leclerc himself, but of Ferrari's perennial underachievement in the past two decades. This season's new regulations marked another moment of hope and promise, which is as yet unfulfilled.

Leclerc's contract did not run out this year, sources at Ferrari say, and this is a contract extension - not a simple exercising of an option clause.

That likely means he was under contract until the end of next year - as is believed to be the case with team-mate Lewis Hamilton. And clearly the team were keen to lock him down.

As they should, when the driver market could become turbulent this year, with Max Verstappen's future in the sport uncertain. Leclerc is a desirable commodity for other teams, to say the least.

As for Leclerc himself, in truth he did not have that many options, even had he wanted them.

Mercedes drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell are said to be locked in for next year at least, given the team's level of competitiveness in 2026.

And if any driver will go there instead of one of them, it will be Verstappen, who team boss Toto Wolff has coveted for years.

McLaren are also committed to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for the foreseeable future.

In that context, committing to Ferrari for a few more seasons - likely to 2029, according to the word on the street - seems like a sensible option for Leclerc, even if there must be times when his faith in his dream is tested.