Leclerc agrees to new long-term deal with Ferrari

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has agreed a new long-term contract with the team.

The deal for the 28-year-old comes in the build-up to his home Grand Prix in Monaco this weekend.

Leclerc signed his last deal in 2024 and Ferrari say this renewal will keep him with the team for the "coming seasons".

The Monegasque has competed in 155 races for the Italian outfit since joining in 2019, winning eight times, and he is currently third in the drivers' championship.

He has a superb record in Monaco. In the past six years, he has qualified on pole three times, been second on the grid twice and third once.

"I couldn't be happier to continue this journey with Scuderia Ferrari HP," he said.

"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 joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2016 and after winning the Formula 2 title in 2017, made his Formula 1 debut the following year with Sauber.

He is the team's second-most capped Formula 1 driver and also ranks second for pole positions (27), behind only Michael Schumacher.

The new deal should see him pass Schumacher's 179 starts for Ferrari although the beating the German's 58 pole positions will be a bigger ask.

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.

"We appreciate his talent, we love his determination and the way he approaches every day with the people in the Scuderia, both on and off the track. We know how much this project means to him and we are happy to continue working towards our shared goals."