Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc disagrees with Max Verstappen’s recent comments about the Italian side and winning the drivers’ championship. According to the Dutch driver, the title would have come much sooner if he had been driving a Ferrari or McLaren.
The four-time world champion is aware that his Red Bull was not necessarily the strongest car on the grid and that the two rival teams have proven to be much stronger. After all, it is Ferrari and McLaren that are battling for the constructors’ championship, with Red Bull nearly out of the picture.
“He doesn’t know Ferrari or McLaren,” is Charles Leclerc’s response.
But according to Charles Leclerc, it’s not so simple to draw such conclusions. The Monegasque driver commented bluntly on the Dutchman’s “theory,” clarifying that the situation is much more complex than it might seem.
“I believe that Max is very strong, he’s a special driver and has a very strong self-confidence. This makes him a perfect rival. But I think it’s very difficult to say something like that without really knowing the cars he was talking about, McLaren and Ferrari,” said Charles Leclerc.
He then explains his thoughts further. “I can’t know if he would have won the title earlier with Red Bull because I don’t know his car. Just as he doesn’t know ours, and he shouldn’t come to these conclusions. He doesn’t know Ferrari, he doesn’t know McLaren, so how can he say these things?”
“For this reason, I think he exaggerated in saying what he said, it’s maybe a bit of a stretch to say something like that. I repeat, he’s a very strong driver. But on this, maybe he could have avoided it,” concludes Ferrari’s number 16 driver ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix.
