F1 pundit warns Ferrari of Charles Leclerc's defection to Mercedes

F1 pundit Peter Windsor has warned Ferrari of Charles Leclerc defecting to Mercedes if Lewis Hamilton retires. Windsor has been one of the more prominent voices in F1 and in one of his live chats he talked about how Ferrari needs to be careful about the future of Charles Leclerc with the team.

Lewis Hamilton is in the final year of his contract with Mercedes and is negotiating a new one with the team. Having said that, the German team has to look at a future beyond Lewis and that is where Charles Leclerc comes in. According to Windsor, Toto Wolff, and Mercedes could be looking at a partnership of George Russell and Charles Leclerc. He said:

“Let’s say Lewis stops at the end of ‘24 – let’s say ’23 and see how we go – I would imagine Toto [Wolff] is going to try and go for Charles Leclerc. It would be a mess probably, putting Leclerc with [George] Russell, but if he’s prepared to put Russell with Hamilton, he’s obviously going to be prepared to put him with Leclerc.”

There have been rumors of Lewis Hamilton signing a two-year extension with the German team but it remains to be seen if the rumors will turn into a reality as there has been quite a bit of a delay in finalizing the contract between the two parties.

Charles Leclerc quashes rumors of him leaving Ferrari

Leclerc told Quotidiano Nazionale in a recent interview that he was not leaving Ferrari. Quashing rumors of a possible move to Mercedes, Leclerc said that he was in no rush to finalize his contract situation with Ferrari, but assured he's had no contact with any other team. He said:

“There is no hurry. I know you are worried that I could go to Mercedes, but honestly there are no negotiations. I feel good in Ferrari, I feel the enthusiasm of the people. I am excited by the idea of crowning the dream, mine and everyone’s, of winning with Ferrari. I leave for Bahrain on Monday and I honestly can’t wait to be there. We will have three days of testing together with all the rivals.”

It is safe to say that in F1 everyone has enough guile to not talk about the conversations they have with rival teams. It all does, however, come down to Lewis Hamilton deciding his future. If he extends his contract then the entire conversation goes out of the window. But if he does not, who knows what route Toto Wolff will take next?