P1 with Matt and Tommy
Our honest thoughts on Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari contract extension
03 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What news prompted this emergency podcast episode?
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the V1 Podcast with Matt and Tommy. Emergency podcast. Something we've not done for a little while. And it's always exciting when you... It's like, Tommy, quick. We need to record something because there's actually been news. And it's about my boy, Charles Leclerc.
Why can't there be news when there's a... Eight-week break, by the way. I know.
Well, they like to time it around certain races, don't they? It's all very managed and scheduled. But it's fine. We like news. And this one, we will discuss whether we like it or not. It's, of course, Charles Leclerc deciding to stay... At Ferrari, there's no years that are attached to this. I couldn't find a single contract that Charles Leclerc has signed where it actually said until X year.
It's always multi-year, which I don't mind. I don't mind a multi-year for Charles Leclerc. That means he stays in Formula 1 where he belongs. So, yes, the idea, the understanding, the rumours, whatever you want to call it, was that he already had a contract signed until 2029, maybe 2028. Either or, years...
from where we are right now it's 2026 but he's like another one another multi-year deal thank you very much i will never leave ferrari and interesting we we joke and your joke has kind of been about charlotte club staying forever his and he can never look too much and dissect a tweet or an instagram post or ever but it's funny that his caption is here to stay love heart that's kind of a
That kind of hits the vibe of I'm not leaving, you know, Wolf of Wall Street.
I'm never leaving.
I'm never leaving. Here to stay at Scuderia Ferrari. This is forever. Don't worry. I will endure this for the rest of my career.
Yeah, I bet you are. The phrase don't worry is definitely not. Because it's going so well so far. Yeah, lots of wins, lots of wins. Right. Okay. So why don't we get into our first thoughts? My initial first thought is... A mixture of emotions. Let's put it that way. I think let's start with the positive.
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Chapter 2: Why did Charles Leclerc decide to extend his contract with Ferrari?
I love wearing Ferrari merch. I think it's a great looking piece of kit.
My positive is I liked Michael Schumacher.
Yeah, I obviously loved Michael Schumacher back in the day. And I'm glad he's staying with Ferrari because the dream, the delusion is that he wins a world championship with Ferrari. It would still hit, don't get me wrong, but it wouldn't hit the same... if he went somewhere else and won a world championship.
The romance surrounding that Scarlet team is something that can't be matched by any other, in my opinion. So I'm glad to a degree, yes, that we are still heading towards that dream. Maybe Charles Leclerc knows something about the 2030 regulations and how Ferrari might be with V8 engines. I'm joking, obviously. But yeah, that's that side. I don't want to call it negatives because it's not.
It's more just apprehension of... This has been what Charles Leclerc has had since a long time. My goodness me. How long has he been at Ferrari now? Since 20... Oh, God. Yeah. You do the math. 2019. No, I said the number. Oh, you did. Yes. Multiple years. He's been there a long time. And it seems like he may well get to at least 10 years at Ferrari. And...
You've got to just wonder, surely one of these seasons, Ferrari will have the consistently fastest car. Don't come at me with, well, a legal engine's here and he was really fast at the start of 2022. A consistently fastest car for an entire season. Surely one of those years...
it can happen right you're hopefully maybe um obviously it's been a long time since i won a world title uh we don't need to yeah good i mean it has uh enjoyed that two decades yeah and well not really because as a alonzo stan i'd love to have seen him
win it and he came very close twice uh still you know the closest driver to to do it for ferrari uh for a long for a long long time since obviously kimmy won the title and they won the constructors didn't they as well but uh in 2008 yeah been a very very long time but you're right in saying that charlotte claire going somewhere else and winning the world title it would be just so epic to win for ferrari
Even if you're not a big Ferrari fan or you support someone else or whatever, I think for any fan of the sport, the story of Charles Leclerc being the guy to win the world title for Ferrari after so many years would be absolutely incredible. Remember, I mean, everyone remembers it, Alex's commentary when he won in Monaco, when Charles won in Monaco. The epic thing.
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Chapter 3: What are the potential risks of Leclerc's long-term commitment to Ferrari?
And it is like the biggest pandemonium event ever. Like, it's not like, for example, you know, when we had a German Grand Prix and you won for Mercedes there, for example. It's not the same. You don't have the same as winning at Monza for Ferrari. There's no better race. So I think those kind of moments just stick with the driver. And for Leclerc, yeah, the love for the team is definitely one.
And another one is the fact that there is nowhere to go. Mercedes McLaren, I feel, are firmly locked off at the moment, at least for a Leclerc. You know, for a Max Verstappen, he could knock on the door and speak to Toto and say, can I play with your car? And he'll say yes, and then George will probably leave.
But sadly, as much as he has unlimited credit in the bank for me personally, Leclerc, you know, he's incredible. It's not it's not the same. So, yeah, there's a lot of factors. And also the fact that Ferrari aren't terrible. You know, people talk about Ferrari on social media as if they're the fifth or sixth fastest team at the moment. They are a team that, yes, have not won a race this year.
But they've been right up there and close to being fastest. And that's the problem that Ferrari always do is that they're second or third fastest. They finish second in the constructors all the time. And that's not a bad team to be. And, you know, if Leclerc was to then announce this year, I'm going to Aston Martin because I believe in the dream there.
Everyone would be questioning, why the hell are you doing that? Or why the hell are you going to any other team other than Mercedes or McLaren? But neither of those are possible. So I don't really think the criticism that Leclerc will get of wasting his career is fair.
I know some people are going, oh, why don't you just wait to see what happens with Max and how that changes the whole driver market? But what's to say that isn't happening anyway? Just because he's announced this contract extension, we know how little contracts actually matter in the world of Formula 1. If a team wants a driver, they will make it happen. We've seen that before.
So as much as this has been announced, you know that the conversations, or at least if you think about it, the paddock conversations are ongoing all the time. So I'm sure Leclerc's team... have looked at the options and this is the best one.
I think Ferrari, as you say, is that loyalty to Ferrari. And just to go on your point that you made at the start, even with people that have won world championships together, like Max Verstappen and Red Bull, Lando with McLaren, There's no kind of more emotional bond between a team and driver like there is Charles Leclerc and Ferrari.
However much people take the mick out of it, it's true that he kind of is born to be a Ferrari driver from the start. And he wants to win that world title for Ferrari. And that is a risk he's willing to take as well.
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Chapter 4: How do Leclerc's past performances influence his future with Ferrari?
I think the promise of them delivering a title in these regulations, the thing we said at the start about Lando, never say never, because no one would have expected it. And it's very easy to look at it and go, oh, well, Red Bull are just going to dominate this whole regulation the last time out. And actually, by the end of it, they fell off a bit. The pack always gets closer.
And then McLaren managed to go into a year where they were actually pretty dominant, particularly at the start of the year, which if you'd have said three years previously, you'd have said, jog on, no chance. That's definitely not going to happen.
So I don't think it's out the question that Mercedes aren't going to just completely dominate for the rest of time in these regulations and win every single race like they're doing at the moment.
that being said just this is a bit of a side note but i don't think it's been said enough and we've probably not had this conversation so let's have it now how much ferrari have been shafted with these regulations and i don't think they're shouting about this anywhere near enough as i think someone like christian horner or toto wolf would be
because they built a car for these regs to just start a Grand Prix normally knowing they'd have an advantage with a great start and yet they changed the rules so there was a start procedure which immediately kind of made their starts less good because If it was just a case of five likes, come on and go, Ferrari would be leading into turn one every single week at the start of the season.
So they changed that. Then they changed the kind of regulations again, which has kind of made them further back. And for all the criticism that Ferrari get, they built, I think, a very good car for these regulations. And I think had things just stuck there where they were with normal start procedure, yes, we'd be complaining about how ridiculous the regulations are.
But I genuinely think Ferrari would be up there challenging for the championship and race wins this year.
Oh no, they'd lead for three more laps and then lose the lead again, mate. Just because they get to the lead, I don't think that would change.
Australia was definitely a showcase of that wouldn't happen.
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