Charles Leclerc has held an unwavering passion for Ferrari since his childhood and insists that only one condition would pry him away from the Scuderia.
Leclerc joined Ferrari in 2019, after his debut campaign in F1 with Sauber. The Monegasque claimed his first wins with the Italian outfit that year with a pair of highly emotional victories on consecutive weekends at Spa and at Monza.
He added three more triumphs to his track record in 2022, but it's been a frustrating campaign for the 25-year-old this year with a Ferrari SF-23 that has been no match for Red Bull's dominant RB19, except when the latter inexplicably underperformed in Singapore, where Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz picked up the baton and delivered to the Scuderia its 243rd win in F1.
But despite his disappointment and his team's shortfall, Leclerc's heart remains deeply entrenched in the House of Maranello, and for more reasons than one.
"It’s always been the red car for me, since I was younger," he explained in an interview with The Race.
"But this is not the whole reason why I am so attached to Ferrari. I am also super grateful for everything they’ve done for me.
"I’m also aware that Nicolas Todt [manager] helped me from 2011, but without Ferrari, I wouldn’t have made it to Formula 1. And they’ve always been there supporting me when I needed it.
"Ferrari is just special. Whenever you get to Ferrari, and you go around the factory and you speak to the people, you can feel something that is super special, you can understand how much passion and how much it means to them.
"When you go to the production, and you see how much it means for them to see the driver. It’s something very strong."
After fighting at the top of the standings and defying Red Bull and Max Verstappen during the first half of 2022, Ferrari's efforts waned in the second part of the season.
Still, the Scuderia was determined to offer its rival a strong and sustained opposition in 2023. Unfortunately, that plan was undermined from the outset by the peaky and unpredictable behaviour of Ferrari's second-generation ground effects design.
"We straight away knew what our weaknesses were," Leclerc recounted.
"We were, at least at the beginning of the year, super wind-sensitive, which is something I guess is quite difficult to understand for fans that are not properly into Formula 1.
"There were some off-examples like Baku, where the wind was quite high, but we were super strong [Leclerc converted pole position into a podium], which was difficult to understand.
"But then as a general trend, we were struggling quite a lot. Even in one weekend, we could see a lot of very good sessions and also very difficult sessions.
"That was very, very difficult for us because also as a driver, it’s very difficult to set up the car in a particular way, because you will get one car one session and a very different one the one after."
Leclerc would be excused for growing impatient and frustrated with his team's troubles and insufficiencies, and harboring thoughts of leaving Ferrari.
But the Monegasque remains resolutely committed to the team, steadfast in his dedication to helping team boss and friend Fred Vasseur return the Italian outfit to its former glory.
"I view it in a way that whenever I won’t believe in the project anymore, that probably will be the time when I’ll have to go away," Leclerc admitted.
"Because it’s in these kinds of situations that you don’t get the best out of yourself, that you don’t help the team as much as it needs to be helped.
"But this is definitely not the case at the moment. I believe in the project as much as I’ve ever believed in the project before. Especially since Fred arrived.
"So for now it’s clear. Then it’s also clear that I want to win. But I believe in this project and I’m sure we are working in the right direction."
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