{"id":211324,"date":"2025-10-13T23:15:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T23:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/211324\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T23:15:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T23:15:11","slug":"charles-leclerc-told-his-obvious-next-step-in-formula-1-if-he-decides-to-leave-ferrari","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/211324\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles Leclerc told his \u2018obvious\u2019 next step in Formula 1 if he decides to leave Ferrari"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Follow us on Google Discover <\/a> <\/p>\n

A few months ago, no one would have expected Ferrari star Charles Leclerc to potentially be at the centre of next year\u2019s driver market.<\/p>\n

Charles Leclerc<\/a> has spent nearly the entirety of his Formula 1 career racing for Ferrari<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Monegasque driver was scouted by Ferrari during his junior career and, after a year at Sauber, was brought in to replace Kimi Raikkonen as Sebastian Vettel\u2019s teammate.<\/p>\n

Known among Ferrari fans as \u2018Il Predestinato\u2019, the Predestined One, Leclerc has watched Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris overtake his wins tally this season, and Fred Vasseur\u2019s<\/a> team slip down the constructors\u2019 championship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Leclerc has signed a long-term deal at Ferrari<\/a>, but it\u2019s clear that the 27-year-old is beginning to lose patience.<\/p>\n

Position Constructors’ Standings PointsPts 1 650 2 325 3 300 4 290 5 102 6 72 7 66 8 55 9 46 10 20 <\/p>\n

At the end of the Singapore Grand Prix<\/a>, Leclerc admitted Ferrari had no chance of winning races this year<\/a>, and this has led to speculation about his future.<\/p>\n

Leclerc has been linked to Mercedes<\/a> and Red Bull since the race in Singapore for the 2027 season.<\/p>\n

It would be the ultimate sign that Ferrari are lost if Leclerc departs, and commentator Alex Jacques has shared the \u2018obvious\u2019 next step for the Monegasque driver if he decides to leave.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc\u2019s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend<\/a><\/p>\n

\"FerrariPhoto by Mark Sutton \u2013 Formula 1\/Formula 1 via Getty ImagesCharles Leclerc told to sign for either Aston Martin or a Mercedes-powered team if he leaves Ferrari<\/p>\n

Jacques was asked on The Race F1 Podcast where Leclerc would have to force a move if Ferrari don\u2019t live up to expectations next year, and he said: \u201cHonestly, I think he would have to, on the evidence of his time with Ferrari, have to seriously consider a move.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if it goes the way that many in the paddock are thinking, he\u2019s looking for a Mercedes power unit. That\u2019s what I think he would have to consider.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s worth mentioning Fernando Alonso in all of this, because he\u2019s like a ghost of Christmas past, isn\u2019t he? When they\u2019re on a driver\u2019s parade with him, and they\u2019re like, man, they all know how good Fernando is, and they all know that he\u2019s got fewer titles than he should have.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s getting the career move wrong a couple of times, and that can leave you, 44, just being brilliant and giving us very entertaining team radio, but without a chance to compete for titles.<\/p>\n

Position Drivers’ Championship PointsPts 1 336 2 314 3 273 4 237 5 173 6 127 7 88 8 70 9 39 10 37 <\/p>\n

\u201cIf this goes wrong, he\u2019s 27 now, he\u2019s 28, I think this month, so you\u2019re looking at he\u2019s 30 years old, there\u2019s still time to put it right. Get the career move wrong, and you\u2019re getting towards the mid-30s, you might not ever get a shake at a championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not talking about. It didn\u2019t work out, and it all fell apart late into the season. We\u2019re talking about not even getting a proper chance to fight for a world championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, he\u2019s going to have to consider a move, and the obvious one is, do you fancy a go with Adrian Newey-designed Aston Martin, or do you try and plump for a Mercedes power unit?<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people will be very interested in signing Charles Leclerc, especially given, we\u2019re going to get a rules reset. Imagine how effective Charles Leclerc would have been in what has been, at points this year, a qualifying championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: All you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory<\/a><\/p>\n

Ferrari chairman makes \u2018guarantee\u2019 about F1 team\u2019s future amid Charles Leclerc speculation<\/p>\n

Hamilton will believe that he can win an eighth world championship with Ferrari next season if they build a competitive enough car.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s closed the gap to Leclerc in recent races, but if that doesn\u2019t transpire, then he can still walk away from Formula 1 as the sport\u2019s most successful driver.<\/p>\n

The 2026 regulations have far bigger implications for Leclerc and his legacy.<\/p>\n

TEAMDRIVER 1DRIVER 2AlpinePierre GaslyN\/AAston MartinFernando AlonsoLance StrollAudiGabriel BortoletoNico HulkenbergCadillacValtteri BottasSergio PerezFerrariCharles LeclercLewis HamiltonHaasEsteban OconOliver BearmanMcLarenLando NorrisOscar PiastriMercedesN\/AN\/ARacing BullsN\/AN\/ARed Bull RacingMax VerstappenN\/AWilliamsAlex AlbonCarlos Sainz2026 confirmed F1 drivers<\/p>\n

Chairman John Elkann has made guarantees about Ferrari\u2019s future<\/a> amid speculation about Leclerc potentially leaving.<\/p>\n

In an ideal world, Leclerc commits his long-term future to Ferrari as one of the most talented drivers on the grid.<\/p>\n

However, the team simply aren\u2019t delivering on their side of the bargain. Next year will see Verstappen, George Russell, both McLaren drivers and even Fernando Alonso aiming to become world champion.<\/p>\n

Ferrari have to make sure Leclerc and Hamilton are also in that conversation, otherwise things will get very complicated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover A few months ago, no one would have expected Ferrari star Charles Leclerc…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[43116,64,63,13275,817,826,813,1627,816,85],"class_list":["post-211324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-alex-jacques","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-f1","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-1","tag-formula-1-driver-market","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}