Charles Leclerc has been approached by Lawrence Stroll with the Canadian businessman keen to secure a long-term superstar driver for his Aston Martin project. The Monegasque, who has shown strong loyalty to Ferrari, is said to have quickly pulled out of talks having “smelled something fishy” – but there have been suggestions that another team could soon come knocking.
Leclerc is widely respected as one of the top talents on the Formula 1 grid. However, he is now 28 and in all his years as a Ferrari driver, he has not been given one single car capable of fighting for the drivers’ championship. He has been exrraordinarily patient but even he has suggested in recent times that he might start to look elsewhere if Ferrari continue to flounder in the new regulations cycle.
Aston Martin, it seems, have made their approach too early. According to Italian publication AutoRacer, billionaire owner Stroll approached Leclerc in a bid to convince him to join to project and drive cars designed by Adrian Newey. However, the report claims: “The Ferrari man quickly backed away when he smelled something fishy.”
There could, though, be a more compelling offer to come later this year. The future of Max Verstappen is up in the air after he openly admitted he is considering whether he wants to walk away from F1 and, if he were to do so, then Red Bull would be left with the enormous task of replacing their star driver.
Ferrari have started the new season with a clearly quicker car than Red Bull and so, on the face of things, it would not make sense for Leclerc to walk away from the Scuderia should Laurent Mekies attempt to prise him away. But the fact there is no clear number one driver at Ferrari, with Leclerc competing against seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, could probe pivotal.
That’s according to the same AutoRacer report which suggests Mekies, who knows Leclerc well from his time as sporting director at Ferrari, would look at the Monegasque as a top option should he need to find someone to fill Verstappen’s seat.
The report claims Leclerc has “decided he wants to be the centre of the Ferrari project, unambiguously”. That seems unlikely to happen while Hamilton is there as his team-mate, with the Brit only interested in getting a chance to challenge for the championship one last time before he retires.
Leclerc has a long-term contract and is well-compensated in terms of salary, but it is suggested he is looking for better “conditions” in a renewal of his deal. If that doesn’t happen then “why not listen to those who would put him at the centre without question?” the Italian publication asks.