Charles Leclerc heads into his home grand prix in Monaco this weekend with a new deal to stay at Ferrari beyond 2028.

The 28-year-old is seen as the long-term standard-bearer for the Scuderia in a future that will at some point outlive Lewis Hamilton’s stay at the team.

Hamilton, 41, has one more year left on his contract and last month vowed to see out the deal – though that is conditional on Ferrari wanting him to do so.

Leclerc lies third in the drivers’ championship after five rounds, just ahead of Hamilton, who has himself enjoyed a resurgence this year.

Leclerc joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2016, won the Formula Two title in 2017. He made his Formula One debut with Sauber before moving to the Ferrari seat in 2019, making the first of his 155 starts in red at the Australian Grand Prix.

Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have both enjoyed positive starts to the season

‘It has always been so much more than just a team to me,’ said Leclerc. ‘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.’