Max Verstappen opened up with a comment full of respect for Charles Leclerc following the difficult race in Abu Dhabi for the Monegasque driver. The season finale added an important chapter to the mutual admiration between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. The Dutchman, who won the race but lost the world championship by just two points, openly recognized the crucial role played by the Ferrari driver in a showdown that kept the final laps of the championship highly suspenseful.
Charles Leclerc’s race was aggressive from the very start: a brilliant launch off the line, relentless pressure on Lando Norris, and a daring strategy that forced McLaren to follow him closely throughout the event. Even without a championship-winning car, Leclerc managed to insert himself into a battle that seemed already decided among other contenders, becoming a decisive factor in the outcome of the title fight.
Max Verstappen monitored everything from the big screens, managing his own race while keeping a close eye on the action behind him. At one point, he asked over the radio to his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase: “Is Charles catching him or not?”—a clear sign of how aware he was of the Ferrari driver’s influence on the title battle.
“Impressive to watch” – Verstappen on Leclerc
At the post-race press conference, the four-time world champion made a point of publicly acknowledging the quality of his rival’s performance: “Charles gave everything today to try and get onto the podium, and it was really impressive to watch.”
Short but meaningful words, which confirm the mutual respect between the two former karting rivals, now engaged in a more mature and respectful competition. Verstappen also admitted that he had hoped for a last-minute twist: “I kept looking at the screen to see if something would happen,” but Lando Norris successfully defended the podium that secured his world championship.
Charles Leclerc ends 2025 with a race that, even without a podium, confirms his political and technical weight on track: a driver capable of influencing the world championship battle even without a title-winning car.
As the curtain falls on 2025, the Monegasque driver heads into the winter knowing he has the speed, race intelligence and mental strength to decide destinies on track – championship-winning machinery or not. And when even Max Verstappen is the first to stand up and applaud, you know the performance was something special.
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