Leclerc Signs Multi-Year Ferrari Extension Before Monaco

Charles Leclerc is staying at Ferrari for the long haul. The Scuderia confirmed on Wednesday that the Monegasque has signed a multi-year contract extension, ending any lingering speculation about his future just days before he races in front of his home crowd at the Monaco Grand Prix. The timing was no accident. Leclerc, who grew up in the Principality, will line up for the 2026 Monaco GP knowing his future is settled with the only top team he has ever raced for in Formula 1. "I couldn't be happier to continue this journey with Scuderia Ferrari HP," Leclerc said as the deal was announced. "It has always been so much more than just a team to me." The 28-year-old also struck a defiant, optimistic note about the championship ambitions that have so far eluded him in red. "The dream is still alive!" he declared. Leclerc's bond with Ferrari runs deeper than most driver-team relationships on the current grid. He joined the Ferrari Driver Academy back in 2016 and was promoted to the race seat in 2019, since when he has been the team's emotional anchor through a turbulent period of near-misses, strategic blunders and management changes. Team principal Fred Vasseur framed the renewal as the obvious next step, describing the decision to keep Leclerc as a natural one for both parties. With Lewis Hamilton in the other car, Ferrari now has one of the strongest and most marketable driver pairings on the grid locked in for the years ahead. Yet the extension is not without risk for Leclerc. Ferrari has not won a drivers' title since 2007, and committing more of his prime years to the project means betting that the Scuderia can finally build a car capable of beating Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull across a full season. Critics will argue that loyalty could leave him too closely tied to a project that has repeatedly fallen short of its own expectations. The counter-argument is just as compelling. The list of genuinely competitive seats elsewhere is short, and the romance of ending Ferrari's championship drought - the kind of legacy Michael Schumacher built two decades ago - is a prize few drivers could turn down. For Leclerc, who has spoken openly about wanting to win for Ferrari rather than simply to win, the choice was always likely to be an emotional one. There is symbolism, too, in the setting. Signing fresh terms in the week of his home race ties the announcement to the place where Leclerc's story began, and where he has so often arrived as the local favourite carrying the hopes of the Principality. For now, the noise around his future has been silenced at the most fitting moment. Leclerc heads into the Monaco weekend with the security of a long-term deal and the belief that, despite everything, the best is still to come. As he put it himself, the dream is still alive - and at Ferrari, he intends to chase it to the end. --- *Originally published on [News Formula One](https://newsformula.one/article/leclerc-signs-multi-year-ferrari-extension). Visit for full coverage.*