On the day that Ferrari’s SF-23 challenger was unveiled, it was menti🍃oned to Leclerc by Sky that he might be a contender to eventually move to Mercedes when Hamilton retires.

Leclerc is contracted to Ferrari for two more years, whilไe Hamilton is expected to pen a new deal with Mercedes soon.

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Leclerc told Sky about extending his Ferrari deal: “No, there are no talks ongoing now, at 🙈least.

💧“I love the red colour. I love Ferrari. I am happy here. But we’ll see what the future holds.

“It📖 is very early to speak about this. My contract ends 🐼[at the end of 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 Red Bull last s🌄eason, and h𒅌e expects Hamilton to join them in a title battle this year.

“Lewis w💖ill never be out of the question for a championship fight,” Leclerc🍸 said.

“If he has the car, he will be there.

“We must forget what he has achieved. 𓃲H𓃲e still has it. We saw that plenty of times last year.

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

Leclerc’s early promising form last season was eventual🎐ly ruined by strategy and performance issues within Ferrari.

He said about their winter develop🤪ment: “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 reliabi𝐆lity issues.

“We ๊finished second in the drivers’ and constructors’ championships, and the logical nextꦕ step is to win.

“We kꦉnow how difficult it will be. But we are putting a lot of work i🧜n.

“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 ma🦂ke it work.”

Fred Vasseur has joinedꦿ Ferrari as their new team principal, replacing Mattia Binotto.

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

“It is different when you arrive at Ferrari. But he knows what we need to do well, an🉐d hoওw to put people in the best conditions to extract the best from people.”