Charles Leclerc Given Painful Slap on the Face Regarding Battle Against Max Verstappen

Many have revered Charles Leclerc as a future world champion. And precisely so, looking at his speed and talent; the Monegasque has got the potential to deliver on these expectations. Though his 2022 title campaign crumbled badly due to several factors. But a major one on Leclerc’s part was his several mistakes against Max Verstappen. Ever so, that former F1 champion Nico Rosberg placed the 2022 championship runner-up as 3rd in his Top 5 of the year.

Rosberg ranked the Top 5 drivers of the 2022 season as per his analysis. In his latest YouTube video, Rosberg ranked Max Verstappen and George Russell as the two best drivers in 1st and 2nd respectively ahead of Charles Leclerc in 3rd.

On Leclerc, he said, “I’ll put [Charles] Leclerc [in 3rd] because he put on a great fight to the championship in the first part of the season.” The 2016 champion appreciated how the Monegasque driver showed amazing speed early on in the year.

But then he also cited how Charles faltered at times against Verstappen’s impeccable form. He added, “Of course, he also had a couple of mistakes in there which you can’t really make when you are trying to win against [Max] Verstappen in the championship. Um, but still I think deserves to be P3 for the season. He’s a fantastic driver out there.”

This may be a painful slap in the face for Leclerc, given he was the prime challenger to Verstappen this year. Still, if Nico ranked him behind Russell in 3rd, it doesn’t sit well.

Read More: Charles Leclerc Surprisingly Shoulders the Blame for “Pivotal” Title Deciding Mistake in His Short but Entertaining Fight With Max Verstappen

Regardless, Leclerc is usually quite self-critical about his mistakes. So, it may not matter to him if anybody ranks him higher or lower in the top drivers of 2022.

How Charles Leclerc reacted to his mistakes in 2022

Charles Leclerc was looking like a solid driver after the Australian GP this year. With 2 wins in 3 races, he looked like a fresh and quick challenger who could dethrone Verstappen quite convincingly. Although it was a marathon, not a sprint. And Charles certainly fell short to complete the F1 marathon of 22 races to win the world championship.

In Imola, he spun around at the Variante Alta chicane and lost a crucial podium finish. Leclerc admitted after the race that he got greedy to chase down the Red Bulls running away with a 1-2 finish. The Ferrari driver would have been happy to keep going after that spin and crash, but it still frustrated him to lose points.

But Leclerc’s biggest frustration came in France. Spinning out of the lead of the French GP at Paul Ricard, the Monegasque was seething in his cockpit. While he had no control over the car crashing into the barriers at Turn 11; Charles screamed in agony.

After the DNF result, Leclerc accepted and analyzed how it was his mistake. He took full responsibility for a 25-points swing to Verstappen in the title fight. Charles knew what he did wrong and criticized himself for not being better to avoid such driving errors.

WATCH THIS STORY: Charles Leclerc in a heated debate over Dinner time conversation with a Max Verstappen fan

Going into 2023, all Leclerc might want to focus on is perfecting his driving and eradicating these unforced errors. Building on his failed title challenge experience, the Ferrari driver might want to get wiser for a better, closer title fight. Do you think Leclerc can eliminate his mistakes against Verstappen?