British former racing driver and current Team Principal of the Red Bull Formula One team, Christian Horner, has shown support for Charles Leclerc after the Monegasque driver retired from the French Grand Prix due to a mistake as he crashed out and ended up in the barriers while leading the race at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, pointing out that Charles remains a “very strong” competitor for Red Bull.
Charles Leclerc started from pole position in France and kept the lead in the first part of the race, but after 18 laps he lost control of his Ferrari F1-75 car and slid into the barriers, with Max Verstappen ready to take advantage and secure another easy race win as a result of Ferrari’s misfortune, despite the fact that the Maranello team had a faster car at the Circuit Paul Ricard.
As a result of his race win in the French Grand Prix, Max Verstappen now has a 63-point lead over Charles Leclerc in the Drivers’ standings, ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, which takes place next weekend.
Charles Leclerc’s error was his second high-profile mistake in the first part of the 2022 Formula One campaign, after he spun at the Imola circuit, losing some points when he was running in third place and was pushing hard to catch Sergio Perez in P2.
At the end of the French Grand Prix, Christian Horner was asked in an interview with Sky Sports F1 if Charles Leclerc is a “crasher” and has given the title to Red Bull, the British team principal expressed his support for the Ferrari driver: “I don’t think so. I don’t know whether anything else contributed to his accident, but he’s a very strong driver. I mean, these two guys, they’re operating at such [a high level] and pushing each other so hard. These cars are right on the edge in these conditions. His bad luck was our good luck today and it’s swung around during the course of the year.” – the Red Bull boss added.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma! Enter the online Puma Store and shop securely! And get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
2021 Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen was quick to ask over the team radio if the Monegasque driver was ok after the crash and the Red Bull driver also wanted to join Christian Horner at the end of the race in offering commiserations to his title rival.
“I feel sorry for him; it’s not nice and he knows that. I think it would have been a really good battle to the end. Unfortunately, we never got to that but, luckily, Charles is okay.” – Max Verstappen concluded.
Leave a Reply