MONACO — Charles Leclerc rejected offers from rival teams to extend his contract with Ferrari because he loves the team so much and believes that boss Fred Vasseur will take them back to the top.
Speaking to reporters ahead of his home Monaco Grand Prix, the 28-year-old Monegasque local hero declined to reveal who had sought his signature, but made clear that he was happy to have a multi-year contract to stay.
“It’s very clear to me,” he said according to AFP. “I love this team and I think that is pretty obvious from the outside. It’s been eight years with the F1 team for me and 10 years in all with Ferrari. They were the first to believe in me and helped me get where I am.
“I believe in the project and I think that with Fred, who I have a very good relationship with, we have the person to bring Ferrari back to the top.”
Of rival offers, he said: “I’m not going to say who. They can say if they want. But, for me, Ferrari was always the choice… Winning in red, for me, has got a very unique feeling and it is something that I have dedicated all these years to.”
Leclerc added that he was expecting Ferrari to deliver more upgrades for their car after a “good start to the season” and suggested that the team had clear developments in mind for their power unit, which has been competitively inferior to Mercedes this season.
“It’s obviously not been as good as we want, so far, because we want to target the world championship, but there has been a lot of innovation on the car -– and we know what we are lacking, more on the engine side.”
Looking ahead to this weekend, he was optimistic and said that he would continue to use the Ferrari simulator to prepare his set-up for the race, in contrast to “old-school” teammate Lewis Hamilton.
