On the day that Ferra♒ri’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.

Lec🗹lerc is contracted to Ferrari for two more years, while Hamilton is expected to pen a new deal with Mercedes soon.

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Leclerc told ღSky about extending his Ferrari deal: “No, there are no talks ongoi𒁃ng now, at least.

“I love the red col🎀our. I love Ferrari. I am happy here. But we’ll𝓀 see what the future holds.

“It is very early to speak about this. My contract en✅ds [at the end o🅰f 2024].”

Leclerc was the runner-up in the F1 standings behind champion 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Max Verstappen of R🌠ed Bull last season, and he expects Hamilton to join them in a title battle this year.

“Lewis will nev🦂er be out of the question for a champꦿionship fight,” Leclerc said.

“If he has the car, he will be there.

“We must forget what he🍰 has ac💮hieved. He still has it. We saw that plenty of times last year.

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

Lec🅘lerc’s early promising form last season was eventually ruined by strategy and performance issues within Ferrari.

He said 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 r𝐆eliability issues.

“We finished second෴ in the drivers’ and constructors’ championships, and the logical next step is to𒉰 win.

“We know how d♌ifficult it will be. But we ar🐭e 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 everything in our hands to make it work.”

Fred Vasseur has joined Ferrari as their new team principal, replac🥂ing Mattia Binotto.

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

“It is di💛fferent when you arrive at Ferrari. But he knows what we🐼 need to do well, and how to put people in the best conditions to extract the best from people.”