First it was a scream of frustration, still inside the car. “No!” Then came the outburst: “That way, I don’t deserve the title.”
Losing the chance to fight for victory in the last stage of F1, held in France, shook Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque was leading the race when he made a mistake on the 18th lap, lost control of the car at turn 11 and ended up in the tire guard.
Worse for the Ferrari driver was to see Red Bull’s Max Verstappen inherit the first position, win the race and extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to 63 points (233 to 170), with seven wins to three for the Monegasque. , after 12 GPs – more than half of the 22 planned in the calendar.
“That doesn’t detract from how good he [Leclerc] it’s like a pilot, it’s fantastic. But he made a mistake,” summarized Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto. “It was a genuine mistake by Charles.”
It was not the Monegasque’s first slip of the season. On the other hand, the Italian team is also indebted to him due to car failures that cost him important points – all in all, he has already failed to earn at least 107 points throughout the year. Only abandonments were three.
It’s a big loss, above all, because Leclerc competes in the World Championship with one of the most consistent drivers on the grid. The current champion’s condition has given the Dutchman more maturity and, even with a car that is not always faster than the Ferraris, he has taken advantage of his chances to seek a second championship.
This Sunday (31), the dispute between them will continue in the Hungarian GP, at 10 am (Brasília).
A good example of the experience acquired by Verstappen was seen in the last race. In the first few laps, he had the chance to get close to Leclerc to fight for the lead. But before making the move, he held back his natural urge and consulted with the team on the best strategy. Guided to save the tyres, he waited for the ideal moment to fight for the position – which only happened because of Leclerc’s mistake.
Verstappen also knew how to deal with frustrations at the start of the season, when two crashes on his Red Bull prevented him from completing the Bahrain and Australian GPs.
Meanwhile, Leclerc took the lead. He stayed ahead until the fifth stage, when he had 104 points against Verstappen’s 85.
In the first five races, the Monegasque only missed the podium at the GP held in Emilia-Romagna, when he made his first mistake. He was coming in third, but ended up riding alone, damaged his front wing and crossed the finish line in sixth — Verstappen won.
In Spain, in the sixth stage, it would be Ferrari’s turn to let the driver down. He was leading handily when the car’s engine broke. Again the Dutchman jumped to first and, this time, he also overtook his rival in the standings, 110 to 104 at that point. After that, he never left the top spot.
Even when he didn’t have the fastest car of the weekend, he showed regularity. So much so that, with the exception of the stages in Bahrain and Australia, he scored in every race, something fundamental for the position he occupies today.
The Dutchman himself acknowledges, however, that his gap in qualifying is greater than it could have been if Ferrari and Leclerc hadn’t made mistakes and suffered with the car.
“The lead we have is great, but it’s probably a little bigger than it should be when you look at the performance of the cars between the two tips. [Ferrari e Red Bull]”, he stated. “It is always very important to score points constantly, even on a bad day,” added the champion.
Leclerc knows this too, but rules out changing his style for the remainder of the season to avoid further mistakes. “That [a maneira de pilotar dele] was what gave me the advantage in most races this year.”
Even so, he recognizes that he needs to improve. “I feel like I’m at the highest level of my career since the start of the season, but there’s no point in playing at that high level if I’m making these mistakes.”
After the stage in Hungary, F1 will be without races for almost a month, until the 28th of August, when the championship returns with the Belgian GP.
Check the Drivers’ Championship standings
1st Max Verstappen – Red Bull – 233
2 Charles Leclerc – Ferrari – 170
3rd Sergio Perez – Red Bull – 163
4th Carlos Sainz – Ferrari – 144
5th George Russell – Mercedes – 143
6th Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes – 127
7th Lando Norris – McLaren – 70
8th Esteban Ocon – Alpine – 56
9th Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo – 46
10th Fernando Alonso – Alpine – 37
11th Kevin Magnussen – Haas – 22
12th Daniel Ricciardo – McLaren – 19
13th Pierre Gasly – AlphaTauri – 16
14th Sebastian Vettel – Aston Martin – 15th
15th Mick Schumacher – Haas – 12
16th Yuki Tsunoda – AlphaTauri – 11
17th Guanyu Zhou – Alfa Romeo – 5
18th Lance Stroll – Aston Martin – 4
19th Alexander Albon – Williams – 3
20th Nicolas Latifi – Williams – 0
21st Nico Hulkenberg – Aston Martin – 0
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