Charles Leclerc – Max Verstappen: mutual respect highlighted over radio messages in F1 Brazil GP
11/09/2024 12:42 PM
“Come on, Charles, no more mistakes”
Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc have been in F1 together since 2018, but in seven years in the Circus, they've only been able to compete on equal terms in relatively brief periods over a now quite extended time span. The two contemporaries sparked the 2019 Formula 1 season multiple times, even though they weren’t battling for the World Championship, and did so again in 2022 when they were fighting for the lead in the standings.
Technical issues and Red Bull’s development made it impossible for Charles Leclerc to stay in contention in the second half of 2022, and in 2023, Ferrari proved less competitive than the previous season. However, in 2024, the SF-24, despite its ups and downs, has had several weekends of high competitiveness. But this time, it was Red Bull that “let down” Max Verstappen, keeping him out of Charles Leclerc's radar in Monaco, Monza, and Texas (in the GP), where the Monegasque secured the win.
The respect between the two is immense, and the weekend in Brazil provided yet another demonstration of this. On Saturday in the Sprint, Max Verstappen complained over the radio about Charles Leclerc’s mistakes while chasing down McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, almost as if urging the Ferrari driver not to slip up in what was a shared mission to overtake the McLarens. In the race, Verstappen climbed from 17th to sixth in just a few laps before “settling” behind Charles Leclerc, who defended his position even when a mistake by the Monegasque at Junção seemed to open the door for Max Verstappen to pass. The Ferrari driver then chose to pit, and Max Verstappen radioed Red Bull’s pit wall to keep an eye on Charles Leclerc's lap times, although the Ferrari man had rejoined in traffic and couldn't set meaningful lap times.
This “man-marking” over the radio also played out a few hours earlier in Qualifying, with Charles Leclerc asking if Max Verstappen’s times in Q1 were set on new or used tires. After the race, in the podium room, the Dutchman admitted his comeback had stalled in Leclerc's "quite decent" exhaust, while the Monegasque, speaking to French TV, noted that although Red Bull performed well in the wet, all credit for the win belonged to the three-time Formula 1 world champion. Months ago in Miami, when Max Verstappen had to decide whether to cover Charles Leclerc, who had pitted, or Lando Norris, who was extending his stint, he didn't hesitate to cover Charles Leclerc’s pit stop and potential undercut.
In both two- and four-wheel racing, it's often thought that drivers have a clear sense of the “ranking” among them, beyond the machinery each has at their disposal (basically who is the strongest, the number two, and so forth). At the same time, every driver must believe they're the best to survive in a shark tank. We don't know what "number" Max Verstappen assigns to Charles Leclerc in his mind, but it's clear that not many come to mind before the Monegasque. Last weekend in the Brazilian Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit provided yet another example, as we await the chance to witness a full season where Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc can battle for the World Championship from the first race to the last.
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