Charles Leclerc opens up about his Ferrari future amidst continuous Mercedes speculation

Charles Leclerc confirmed his desire to stay at Ferrari in the future despite the hard time he has had in the previous seasons, and although there has been speculation of him moving to Mercedes, this isn't the case in his words.

Ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Ferrari are expected to get a better performance after an unfortunate start to the 2023 season. Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes contract will expire at the end of this season and there has been no talk about his extension with the team.

At the same time, it has been speculated that Charles Leclerc would likely want to move to a team that has a better chance of winning the world championship. For this reason, Mercedes was thought to be a better place for the Monegasque driver.

However, ahead of the race in Baku, Leclerc mentioned that he has no plans of leaving the Maranello outfit anytime soon and said:

"I'm fully committed to Ferrari and I love Ferrari. It's always been a dream for me to be in this team. My main priority is to win a world championship with the team, so it's not something in my mind [to move]."

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Charles Leclerc confident about Ferrari's future despite recent departures

Ferrari has seen a couple of its core members leave the team. This started when former team principal Mattia Binotto resigned in late 2022. Fred Vasseur, who previously guided Alfa Romeo, was his replacement.

Laurent Mekies, who served as the team's assistant team principal and race engineer, recently announced his departure from the Scuderia, and will apparently join AlphaTauri now.

While this may be an indication of the team losing their strength, Charles Leclerc is still pretty much confident about their performance. He said:

"We all understand in the team that this opportunity is right to take, as it's a really good opportunity for Laurent. The team is more than one person. I'm very confident for the future with Fred, having what he has in mind, I'm really confident."

The SF-23 is currently not in a position to battle with the likes of Red Bull and Aston Martin at the front of the grid. In addition to that, Leclerc has already gone through two DNFs in the three races that have taken place.

New upgrades are expected from the team soon, which could help them gain back their lead position in the standings.