Charles Leclerc swatted away suggestion he may replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes by reaffirming Ferrari commitment

Charles Leclerc has rebuffed rumours that he could one day replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes by stating his commitment to Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG
Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG

On the day that 𝄹Ferrari’s SF-23 challenger was unveiled, it was mentioned to Leclerc 🦩by Sky that he might be a contender to eventually move to Mercedes when Hamilton retires.

Leclerc is contracted to Ferrari for two more years, while Hamilton is expected to pen a new deal with Mercedes soonꦐ.

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Leclerc told Sky about extending his Ferrari de🍎al: “💃No, there are no talks ongoing now, at least.

“I love the red colour. I lov𝐆e Ferrari. I am happy here. But we’ll﷽ see what the future holds.

“It is very early to speak about this. My contract ends [at th🌌e end of 2024].”

Leclerc was the runner-up in the F1 standings behind champion 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen of𝓀 Red Bull last season, and he expects Hamilton to join them in a title battle this year.

“Lewis wil꧋l never be out of the question for a championship fight,” Leclerc said.

“If he has the car, he will be there.

Leclerc swats away suggestion he’ll replace Hamilton at Mercedes

“We must forget what he has achieved. He still has it. We saw that𓂃 plenty🗹 of times last year.

“Lewis will be there, like Red Bull will be too.”

Leclꦐerc’s early promising form last season was eventually ruine꧃d by strategy and performance issues within Ferrari.

He sai꧙d about their winter development: “The big work was done on reliability. I don’t want to express too much! But there has been a lot of work. 

“I♉ hope we won’t have a lot of reliability issues.

“We finished second in the drivers’ anꦜd constructors’ championships, a﷽nd the logical next step is to win.

“We know how diౠ🐻fficult it will be. But we are putting a lot of work in.

“Mercedes, I am sure, will be there too. They had a very strong end to 🐽the season last year.

“It will be a difficult championship but we’ll do ev🥂erything in our hands to make it work.”

Fred Vasseur has joined Ferrari as thei🐷r new team principal, replacing Matt🌠ia Binotto.

“From what I’ve seen, he’s been 𒉰amazing in this new position at a new team,” Leclerc said.

“It is different when you arrive at Ferrari. But he knows what we need to do wel𓂃l, and how to put people in the best conditiꦯons to extract the best from people.”

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