‘We Must Take Steps to Prevent Verstappen’s Third Title’: Charles Leclerc Serves a Reality Check to Ferrari With Harsh Criticism

The way Red Bull has dominated the 2022 season, teams all over the grid must be extremely worried. They haven’t allowed any team or driver to come close to thinking about winning the title. Ferrari had seen Mercedes set this trend earlier; they wouldn’t want to allow another team to do the same to them.

Red Bull and Max Verstappen have been deserved winners of both Championships this season. They have been relentless and ruthless all season long, not allowing any kind of doubts to develop about their victory. With 4 races to go, Verstappen has wrapped up the WDC.

The WCC remains open to other teams only as a far-fetched possibility but not of any meaningful probability. This scenario has logically concerned other teams, but most of all Ferrari. The Tifosi have been consistent visitors of the P2 spot without offering any real competition to Max. Moreover, they already ‘suffered’ 8 years of Mercedes hegemony until 2021. Another bout of such domination will not do them any good.

Charles Leclerc gave his views on what Ferrari needs to do to prevent Max Verstappen from winning his third F1 title in a row next season. He said “We need to focus on ourselves. We have to try to run Sundays well because performance isn’t what we’re missing this year.”

“Our performance has always been strong enough to get a race win. We try to put everything together on Sundays, that’s what we’re focusing on right now. This is an important step we have to take to fight for the title next year. (Translated via Google)” 

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A more competitive sport is a plus for all fans. To see a talent like Leclerc challenge Verstappen for the title would only add to the sport and catch more attention and viewership – ultimately benefiting the development of the sport itself.

Ferrari has been having issues with its driver lineup too

While most teams follow an unsaid #1 and #2 differentiation on their teams, Ferrari has been working with a different policy altogether.

The Italian team has made no clear distinction of who their #1 is. This issue arose earlier when reporters read into Mattia Binotto’s comments about Ferrari’s drivers. Sainz was then criticized for not being sufficiently competitive against his Monegasque partner.

It has come up again and Sainz is not very happy with the kind of reporting on the team. Talking to the Spanish daily AS, he said “I can understand that after the first few races, Charles was clearly one step ahead in both qualifying and race pace. But in the middle of the season, I improved a lot. I started getting into the fight more and it was kind of frustrating in a way because when I got into the fight it seemed like some people didn’t want me there.”

“I was criticized for not being there, and when I started being there some wondered what I was doing up front, letting Charles win everything. It was frustrating, especially from the press. They criticize me, but just when I was there fighting, they don’t want me in front anymore. You saw I don’t pay much attention to what is said out there.”

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The Spaniard’s frustration with the response is well-founded. He was a much-improved driver in the second half of the season, but he hasn’t gotten the appropriate appreciation for it.