Todt turns the heat on Ferrari: deliver in 2026 or risk losing Leclerc
Nicolas Todt has put Ferrari on notice. Speaking to the Straits Times in Singapore, Charles Leclerc’s long-time manager made it clear the Monegasque won’t wait forever for a title-worthy car. “He’s not a kid anymore,” Todt said, a line that landed with the thud of a ticking clock in Maranello. Translation: if Ferrari don’t show up for the 2026 rules reset with a genuine championship contender, Leclerc’s future becomes an open question.
This isn’t idle chatter. Leclerc’s been with Ferrari since 2019, a period that’s delivered eight wins and a near-miss in 2022 when he finished runner-up in the World Drivers’ Championship. It’s also been a seven-season reel of bright Saturdays and too many bruising Sundays. After another tough Singapore Grand Prix, Leclerc’s post-race debrief was unvarnished. McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes have all found steps, he said, while Ferrari have been left playing catch-up. “And then there’s us,” was the sting.
Taken alone, it’s frustration. Taken with the tone of his recent radio messages and Todt’s public temperature check, it starts to sound like groundwork. The driver who once arrived as Ferrari’s future now wants Ferrari to meet him in the present.
Todt didn’t sugar-coat it. Ferrari’s car is “good,” he said, but not good enough to win a World Championship. The ask is simple and enormous: build a 2026 machine that can go toe-to-toe with the class of the field from round one. The stakes are obvious. Leclerc signed a multi-year extension in early 2024, widely understood to include options that give both sides wiggle room. In other words, there are escape hatches if performance doesn’t align with ambition.
And here’s where the timing matters. The 2026 regulations will shuffle the deck again, and this paddock is already bracing for a game of high-stakes musical chairs. A lot of big names will do exactly what Todt predicts: wait to see who nails the new era, then move. It’s not dissimilar to the Verstappen calculus for the next phase—stick, assess, and keep the horizon in view.
For Ferrari, the message couldn’t be clearer. They’ve made gains, they’ve hardened up operations, they’ve stopped some of the bleeding. But their lead driver is staring down his prime years and measuring them against rivals who’ve turned potential into silverware. Leclerc’s consistency and speed aren’t in question. The car is. And while Ferrari’s badge will always pull, drivers of his calibre increasingly choose certainty over romance.
There’s no melodrama here—yet. Leclerc’s not campaigning for a move, and Todt’s words weren’t a threat so much as a marker. The market in 2026 will be ruthless, and those with leverage will use it. If Ferrari hit the ground running, this conversation evaporates. If they don’t, Leclerc will have options and the will to consider them.
Inside Maranello they know the cost of hesitation. The 2026 project has to be decisive: power unit integration, aero efficiency within the new rules, and a car that protects its tyres well enough to turn Saturday potential into Sunday points on the regular. That’s the bar set by the teams Ferrari are measuring themselves against right now.
Leclerc’s patience has never felt endless, and Todt just put that on the record. The rest is up to Ferrari. Either they give their man a title shot in the first year of the new era, or they risk watching one of the sport’s sharpest drivers test the market in 2027. In this business, the clock always wins. The Scuderia can still race it.
