‘If he has the right package’: Max Verstappen’s manager believes Charles Leclerc can be world champion
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Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen (IMAGO / HochZwei)
In 2022, the fans were anticipating a title battle between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen. In the early stages of the season, that certainly happened, but as the season went on, it started running away from Leclerc. While he was 46 points ahead after Australia, he is now 114 points behind with 4 races to go and has lost his shot at the title this year.
While it is obvious that Max Verstappen has been the superior driver, the gap doesn’t just come through the driver performance or even the car performance – Instead, it is really Ferrari’s missteps this year that have cost them the most. While Leclerc also made mistakes, most recently in Japan (which handed Verstappen the title), it’s fair to say the mistakes from Ferrari cost him far, far more.
Verstappen’s manager, Raymond Vermeulen also believes that even for the mistakes the Ferrari drivers – Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have made this year, seem to come from the nature of the car at their hands. He also called Leclerc a ‘future world champion’.
Max Verstappen’s manager: Charles Leclerc’s mistakes due to ‘loose rear’
Charles Leclerc made a potentially championship-deciding error in France, where he crashed out from the lead by himself. It was a bizarre crash, and Leclerc accepted the blame for it. But as per RacingNews365, Max Verstappen’s manager, Raymond Vermeulen thinks that the characteristics of the car did not help him.
Vermeulen said to the F1 Nation Podcast: “A lot of the mistakes that happened to both Ferrari drivers was because they seem to have quite a loose rear, that’s a little bit unpredictable. And then obviously, if you’re already a little bit on the backfoot, you push that just extra couple of percent more, and you’re driving closer at the limit, then it’s obviously easy to make a mistake.”
Indeed, even though Leclerc was not under direct pressure, he was pushing so as to get out of the undercut range of Max Verstappen. He had successfully held off the Dutchman but still had to push. And while trying to do that, he ended up making a grievous error. His 38-point deficit turned quickly to a 63-point deficit.
Vermeulen thinks that Leclerc is a future world champion: “It’s easy to finger point, but I think if he has the right package, Charles is definitely also a future Formula 1 World Champion, if he has the car that he requires to do [so.]”
In 2023, Charles Leclerc will have to try again, and his goal for the rest of the year is to prepare with the team so they do not make mistakes like they have this year.
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)