Leclerc is motivated by Verstappen’s lead in the championship

During the first three Grand Prix races, Red Bull showed a great lack of reliability. Three retirements in three races, including two for the team’s leader Max Verstappen, while Ferrari was flawless in this regard. With two wins within this period, Charles Leclerc was taking a big lead in the world championship and had a lead of up to 46 points after the Australian Grand Prix.

Six races later, the outcome is terrible for Leclerc and Scuderia. Max Verstappen now leads the championship with a comfortable 49-point advantage over the Monegasque. Sergio Pérez has even come between the two presumed rivals, with the Mexican having a three-point lead over Charles Leclerc, who is in 3rd place in the standings.

Despite this significant delay in the championship with nine races now gone, Leclerc remains confident and is even motivated by this gap. It motivates me because I know the pace of my car. I am not worried, I am just extremely motivated to finally have a clean weekend and show that we are here and we are strong.

Hit twice by mechanical issues, just like the two Red Bull drivers, Charles Leclerc knows that reliability can always play a role in the future. Obviously, Red Bull has also had some problems. So really, reliability will be something important. But that’s what we need. When we have tougher weekends like this one, we just have to score good points. That’s what we did.

Even though nothing is decided yet since there are still more than half of the Grand Prix races to be contested (13), now Charles Leclerc and especially Ferrari must be flawless in order to close this gap. Because against a driver like Max Verstappen, it will be even more complicated.