Charles Leclerc to stay at Ferrari till 2026, says Will Buxton in his prediction

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc is to stay with the Maranello-based team, as predicted by F1 journalist Will Buxton. The British journalist, one of the most popular and highly regarded in the sport, also believes that the Monegasque will pair up with his teammate Carlos Sainz until the 2025 Formula 1 season.

While the Scuderia remains unchanged, Buxton predicts the same cannot be said about the rest, with all other teams featuring a different line-up from 2022. Earlier last year, the journalist made this prediction on the F1 website.

Buxton said the team would have a breakout year in 2022, and would then win the 2023 Constructors' championship. The Briton continued :

“The partnership of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz proved not only to be a fit with fans and sponsors, but the harmonious accord between the pair has created a feeling of positivity and enthusiasm that nobody in Maranello would dream of breaking up.”

His predictions also see George Russell pairing up with Daniel Ricciardo and 2021 F1 champion Max Verstappen pairing up with current McLaren driver Lando Norris. The list, which also features several F2 and F3 drivers, has been making waves on social media ever since.

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2022 season 'quite tricky', says Charles Leclerc

Leclerc during the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP in his Scuderia Ferrari SF21 (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

With the new regulations kicking in for the 2022 season, the Ferrari driver feels he is improving to squeeze everything out of the car next season. With all teams unsure about the performances of both cars and drivers — and with 18-inch tires all set to be the new standard — he thinks it will be 'tricky'. The 24-year-old said:

“It’s quite a bit different. It makes it quite tricky; I mean, it’s challenging for us drivers and I think it will be more challenging... to drive those cars overall. It has probably a bit of a bigger window to work in and in cold conditions, it feels quite good, but it’s quite tricky when you use the car in the high-speed, especially.”

The Monegasque saw himself finish P7 in the drivers' standings for 2021. He fell behind his teammate Carlos Sainz, who managed an impressive P5 in his first year at the Prancing Horse.