02/05/2023
NEWS STORY
Admitting that Charles Leclerc is a driver that everyone should have on their radar, Toto Wolff helps to fan the flames in terms of speculation over the youngster's future.
The trials and tribulations of Mercedes and Ferrari has allowed the usual suspects in the media free rein in terms of clickbait headlines relating to the futures of Lewis Hamilton.
While Hamilton is claimed to be leaving Mercedes for Ferrari, frustrated by the German team's ongoing issues, Leclerc is claimed to be heading in the opposite direction for similar reasons, albeit out of frustration with the Maranello outfit.
Over the three week break much of the other media joined in and when the circus reconvened in Baku last week the Monegasque was asked the all-important question, had he spoken with Mercedes.
"No... Zero... Zero... Really zero," he told reporters, who clearly weren't entirely convinced.
"You all smile because you don't believe me," he added, "but I promise... "I'm fully committed to Ferrari and I love Ferrari. It has always been a dream for me to be in this team and my main priority is to win a world championship with this team. So it's not something in my mind."
However, with his contract set to run out next season, when asked if preliminary talks had taken place, he admitted: "No, not yet... not for the moment.
"For now, I am fully focused on the project I am in today, which is Ferrari and I fully trust and am confident for the future. Then we will see, but I am fully confident for the project of Ferrari."
Meanwhile, not having enjoyed the easiest of introductions to the team, Frederic Vasseur appeared to make a significant gaffe when he seemed to suggest that the way forward was to build Ferrari around Leclerc.
"In every single team that you are always building a team on the driver," said the Frenchman. "If you ever look over the last twenty years or even more, all the successful constructors in F1 took time, but it was always a team built up around someone."
It was subsequently suggested that such a comment might not go down well with Carlos Sainz, at which point Vasseur sought to clarify what he meant.
"I think that there was a kind of misunderstanding," he said. "The question was about Charles and I said that we have to build up the team around the drivers. I didn't say that we want to build up the team around Charles.
"For me, the drivers are a key pillar of the performance, not just in terms of pure performance, pure driving and performance into the car, but they have to also be somehow key into the development, in the project; midterm and long term. I want to have two drivers fully committed and it's the case with Charles and Carlos."
Meanwhile, Toto Wolff further muddied the waters with a throwaway remark in response to being asked about the speculation surrounding Leclerc and Mercedes.
"The only time I talked with him is when we discussed where the gate is in Melbourne to board the plane," joked the Austrian.
"Charles is a super guy," he added, "and for the long-term future someone you have to have on your radar but not for the short and medium term.
"Nobody doubts Charles' ability and he is a good guy," he continued. "He is 100 per cent committed to Ferrari and we are 100 per cent committed to putting pen to paper with Lewis."
Of course, both drivers are fully committed to their respective teams, as are the majority of the rest of the grid, should you ask them, but with continued speculation over Max Verstappen's future one has to ask how far that commitment might stretch should Red Bull announce a vacancy anytime soon.