Izuchukwu OkosiCharles Leclerc has signed bumper a five-year contract extension to stay with Ferrari until the end of 2029, according to Italian publication, Gazzetta dello Sport.
Leclerc is at the end of his fifth season at Ferrari.
Another five years with car racing company will take him into his 11th campaign with motorsport’s most famous team, equalling Michael Schumacher’s record long Maranello tenure spanning 1996 to 2006.
According to Gazzetta, Leclerc will also double his salary in exchange for his long-term commitment, with his annual earnings set to rocket to around €50 million a year if he sees out the full term of his deal.
The new contract will reportedly come with performance clauses on Leclerc’s side that could allow him to exit the team at the end of 2027.
Both Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz signalled this year that they intended to secure their long-term futures at Ferrari before the start of 2024, when they would be out of contract.
Ferrari president John Elkann told an investor call for parent company Exor that he expected both “will stay of course” with the team beyond the end of their current deals.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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