Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc has “never forgiven” Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen for denying him a Grand Prix win three years ago in Austria, as the two drivers are set for an “interesting” rivalry in the 2022 Formula 1 season. This is the view of British former racing driver, currently working as an analyst for the Sky Sports F1 television channel Anthony Davidson.
Charles Leclerc scored an amazing and somewhat unexpected victory in the first round of the 2022 Formula 1 championship, the Bahrain Grand Prix and Max Verstappen was the only one who seemed able to challenge the Ferrari driver. The two rivals were involved in a thrilling wheel-to-wheel fight for several laps, as the Monegasque driver showed some great defensive skills to keep the lead and go one to take the win in Sakhir.
Charles Leclerc was passed by the Red Bull driver three times at turn one of the Bahrain International circuit, but used DRS at turn four to bring himself back into the race lead, bringing home a Ferrari one-two ahead of his Maranello team-mate, Carlos Sainz. The two drivers have raced each other ever since their go karting days, where they also locked horns in a well known incident, but Sky Sports F1 analyst Anthony Davidson believes the rivalry was fully ignited by another notorious moment, which took place in the 2019 Styrian Grand Prix when the Red Bull driver forced Charles Leclerc off the track and won the event:
“I feel like this stems back to 2019 when they were in Austria at the Styrian Grand Prix and Max was hunting down Charles towards the end of the race. With two or three laps remaining he [Max] had a go at the turn-three hairpin, didn’t make it stick the first time because he didn’t really squeeze Charles and gave him room around the outside and Charles came back and that was all fair. The next lap, however, he pushed him off the track and I don’t think Charles has ever forgiven him for that. I think Charles, every time he is with Max now, treats him differently and that’s what I immediately say come into play in Bahrain. Max is going to have to rethink how he races him I think going forward from here. It is going to be interesting.” – he explained, as reported by Sky Sports.
The battle between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen is expected to resume this weekend at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
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