Charles Leclerc: Ferrari driver signs two-year contact extension until 2028 with team ahead of home Monaco Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc has signed a contract extension with Ferrari that keeps him with the team until at least the end of the 2028 Formula 1 season, Sky Sports News understands.

While Ferrari simply said in an announcement that Leclerc had signed up "for the coming seasons", Sky Sports News understands the new term is for two years - and potentially more.

In a statement, Leclerc said: "I couldn't be happier to continue this journey with Scuderia Ferrari HP.

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"It has always been so much more than just a team to me. It's the team I've loved and dreamt of being part of since I was a child, and after all these years it has become a second family.

"Together we've shared incredible moments and some tougher ones, but I believe in this team more than ever, and I'm deeply grateful that we will keep pushing side by side toward our shared goal of bringing the World Championship back to Maranello.

"Being a Ferrari driver is a dream, but it's also a responsibility I never take for granted.

"I'll continue to give absolutely everything I have to bring this team back to where it belongs, at the very top, for everyone in Maranello, and above all for the tifosi, whose passion is the heartbeat of this Scuderia."

Leclerc has been with the team since joining their driver academy in 2016. After making his F1 debut with Sauber, then a Ferrari engine customer, in 2018 he was promoted to a Scuderia race seat in 2019.

With 155 race starts for Ferrari, the 28-year-old Leclerc is second to Michael Schumacher (179) in the team's all-time appearance list, while the Monegasque is also only behind Schumacher for pole positions at the outfit.

He currently sits third in the 2026 standings - three points ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton - behind Mercedes pair Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur added: "Charles has been part of the Ferrari family for many years now and this renewal feels like something very natural for us.

"Over these seasons we have seen him grow, to become not only one of the strongest drivers in Formula 1, but also a person who is completely at one with the team and everything Ferrari represents."

Leclerc and Ferrari keep faith with each other

News of Leclerc's latest deal comes just over two years after his previous contract renewal was confirmed, in January 2024.

Back then Ferrari did not state the length of the driver's deal either, with Leclerc saying in their press release at the time that it locked him in for "several more seasons to come".

F1 teams do not always absolutely confirm the length of driver contracts publicly, instead often using vaguer terms such as 'multi-year deal' or for 'the coming seasons'.

Such ambiguous terminology reflects the often-complex nature of driver contracts, which can feature options as well as fixed-term periods in order to give both driver and team flexibility for the future.

Max Verstappen, for instance, was announced in 2022 on a mega-length Red Bull contract that runs to the 2028 season, although it has since become public knowledge that the latter years contain release clauses which would allow him to leave early under certain circumstances.

Hamilton's last Mercedes contract was announced as a two-year term but contained an exit clause which only became known publicly once he activated it to sign for Ferrari from 2025.

Leclerc is in his eighth season driving for Ferrari but has hitherto only claimed eight race wins at the team amid a continuation of the Scuderia's world title drought that stretches back to 2008.

Considered one of the grid's most talented and fastest drivers, underlined by his record of 27 pole positions despite inconsistent machinery, Leclerc had been loosely linked as being a potential target for Aston Martin and Red Bull over the past year and the 2026 season - the first year of the major chassis and engine changes - had long appeared a key one for his future plans.

He appeared to underline that when he said at the end of a winless 2025 campaign for Ferrari, when they slumped to fourth in the Constructors' Championship, that 2026 overhaul represented a "now or never" year.

The Italian team have duly made a good step forward so far in 2026 and sit second to Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship, although are yet to win a race - extending a victory drought that now runs to 33 races.

What's Hamilton's contractual status at Ferrari?

Hamilton, 41, ended lingering speculation about his own immediate F1 future ahead of the last race in Canada by saying he had a contract to stay on at the team beyond this year.

"I'm going to be here for quite some time, so get used to it," said Hamilton.

Speaking during the same weekend, Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle said he understood that, in addition to a deal for 2027, Hamilton also holds a unilateral option to stay on in 2028 should the seven-time world champion wish.

Next up is the start of Formula 1's European summer swing, with the Monaco Grand Prix the first of six races in eight weeks. Watch live on Sky Sports F1 from Friday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime

(c) Sky Sports 2026: Charles Leclerc: Ferrari driver signs two-year contact extension until 2028 with team ahead of home Monaco Grand Prix