Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen have already had a number of fights on track this season. The two go back quite a few years and it was expected that emotions could run high in the title fight, something that was the case last year. Still, things are going friendly for the time being, but the Monegask still sees things go wrong.
Last year’s intensity also had to do with the championship standings. Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen were close in the standings in the second half of the year and that ensured that every point was valuable and that the two ruffs fought hard for it. We are now in the summer break of the 2022 season and Verstappen has a comfortable lead of eighty points on Leclerc. The ball is therefore with the Monegask, who BBC explains that the title fight could get intense towards the end of the season.
Intensity
At the start of this season, there were mainly problems at Red Bull Racing, which allowed 24-year-old Leclerc to finish in the championship. The Monegask reveals that he avoided the fight at the time to protect his lead in the standings. “This year either I had a big advantage in the championship and then you’re not really willing to take those risks. Or he had a big advantage in the championship and he’s not really willing to take any risks,” he says. Leclerc draws a comparison with the 2021 season: “I feel like last year’s championship was probably a lot more prone to this kind of thing because it was so close to the end. I expected something like this this year too, but maybe we have that at the end of the year.”
Pursuit
For the time being, Verstappen has nothing to tolerate from his competitor from Monaco. With his generous lead, he can pick eggs for his money here and there and drive around with the ranking in mind. Ferrari will have to put in a strong series to make the battle for the championship even more exciting. In any case, Leclerc is ready to take the fight to a new level. “It depends on the situation, on the person you’re facing, your opponent. How far is he willing to go?”, he concludes.
