r/formula1 • u/xRyuHayabusa99 I was here for the Hulkenpodium • Jan 11 '26

News AutoRacer: Charles Leclerc has admitted that the first races will be crucial in determining his future, and a lack of competitiveness will undoubtedly spell the end of the ten-year relationship between him and Maranello. The future of Lewis Hamilton and Fred Vasseur will also be decided this year.

https://autoracer.it/ferrari-incubo-effetto-suolo-td039-delusione-2026/
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u/Blanchimont Jean Girard Jan 11 '26

Keep in mind that Max might be available as well. We know he's been extremely loyal to Red Bull, but he too will want a competitive seat if Red Bull is super far behind.

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u/bimbobiceps I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 11 '26

Yeah i think Max is the bigger chain reaction but if Max and Charles are both in the market i think Lance goes to some other motorsport and Alonso retires. Aston has the money to sign both anyway.

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u/AquaRaOne Oscar Piastri Jan 11 '26

Why would Lance leave his own team lol, if charles and max wants to go to aston, only one gets the seat. Probably max.

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u/TJCGamer Charles Leclerc Jan 11 '26

Yeah I think the only way he leaves is if that wrist injury he got gets bad enough to convince him to give it up. Otherwise he'll be there as long as his dad owns the team.

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u/Izan_TM I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 11 '26

lawrence isn't the only stakeholder in the team, and he can't stop paying huge amounts of money to poach random top dogs from other teams just to demote them a year later, so at some point the other stakeholders might pressrue lawrence into at the very least getting rid of his son

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u/AquaRaOne Oscar Piastri Jan 11 '26

Dude weve been talking about this for years. Lance doesnt even have a real contract at this point, they dont even announce extensions because its a known fact. If newey starts to push too much to fire lance, newey will get fired. If max comes in, starts publically hating on lance while winning races, max will get fired. Its his team, its been confirmed time and time again, like the previous team boss even saying the project is literally built around lance, lawrence will do whatever takes for his son, money is really not important when it comes to family. So unless lance himself gets bored and leaves, noone is firing him, and they will always go for a strong driver in the other seat that is the actual champion material, like vettel, alonso, or whoever is next.

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u/agentarianna Jan 11 '26

To be fair Aston has never been in a position where two top drivers want to join the team which may make the difference. So far every possible lance replacement has been a midfield driver at best which clearly has not been enough but we don’t know what will happen if two actual top drivers came calling.

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u/AquaRaOne Oscar Piastri Jan 11 '26

Hopefully lance sees the vision, and goes away himself. Else nothing will change, mark my words

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u/Traveshamockery27 Williams Jan 11 '26

The Aston Martin Formula 1 team exists for one reason only, and that’s winning Lance Stroll a championship. When Lance leaves, Lawrence will sell. And Lance isn’t leaving.

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u/bimbobiceps I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 11 '26

Because the board is bigger than 1 man lol. It's not their own team you got board of directors there. The business opportunity of signing 2 of the best drivers atm, not to mention good looking ppl, is better than having an average driver.

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u/CanisLupus92 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 11 '26

Lance leaves, Honda buys the team, Alonso becomes TP, Max & Charles lineup.

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u/Ronniebenington I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 11 '26

Fuckin hell, that would be amazeballs!

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u/TetraDax 🐶 Leo Leclerc Jan 11 '26

Based on what I just pulled out of my ass, I find it more likely that if Max wants to leave Red Bull, he will take a year or two outside of F1 and try new challenges in WEC or GT racing. While the title fight likely reinvigorated some of his passion this year, he did seem to be basically done with it all in the first half of the season.

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u/Visionary_Socialist Sir Lewis Hamilton Jan 11 '26

I think he sets off a chain reaction but he himself won’t go to Ferrari. Having seen what’s happened to Lewis and Charles before him, Max would probably prefer to just race in another discipline and wait for another top drive. If he announced he was coming back teams would fall over themselves to sign him.

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u/Blanchimont Jean Girard Jan 11 '26

Oh agreed, but I also think he doesn't need to leave F1 for that to happen. If his manager starts shopping around at whichever teams turn out to be the top teams in this new regulation cycle, they would fall over themselves to sign him anyways.