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

Charles Leclerc was the only driver to have offered Max Verstappen a slight title fight this season because Mercedes was lagging for the majority of the time. Although Ferrari had a very strong start to the season, but after the crucial moment at the French GP race, the Dutch champion grabbed the unbeatable lead.

The Maranello-based team, which had a fantastic start to the season, experienced a setback, as it was afflicted by numerous problems in the second half of the campaign, including driver failure, reliability concerns, and strategic failures. Due to these problems, Verstappen trounced Leclerc with an incredible 146 points.

And ahead of everyone else, Charles Leclerc is aware of who is to blame for the title-deciding mistake. The French Grand Prix was where Monegasque’s most notable error of the season occurred when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed despite holding a comfortable lead. He struck the tire wall and was discovered yelling at the radio, demonstrating his sincere grief. Verstappen, who won the second championship, noted the incident at the Paul Ricard circuit, which made sure that his one hand was on the prize. Charles Leclerc admitted during a conversation with Race that he bears responsibility for the “Pivotal” moment at the French GP.

He said, “The toughest moments for me are always my own mistakes because I’m always very harsh with myself and whenever I make a mistake, I always take it in a worse way compared to when it’s somebody else’s. Speaking about my mistakes, yes, I made a mistake in France. But speaking about the season like I’ve done this year… honestly, you’re always going to make a mistake in a season. This one was a costly one because I was obviously in the lead but it happens.”

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Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton last year in a contentious race, but this year he had a new battle that he seemed to enjoy.

Max Verstappen enjoys the new rivalry on the F1 grid

After a contentious season finale, Red Bull defeated Mercedes to win the championship the past year. However, the Silver Arrows’ lackluster performance this year rendered the Ferrari to be the company’s major threat. There aren’t any unpleasant feelings between the Monegasque and the Dutchman and, in fact, Max has some good things to say about his rival. The Dutch lion remarked in an interview with sky sports Italy prior to this year’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

He said, “I prefer what we have now because, first of all, Charles I know very well, he’s a nice guy, we are a similar age – I think we are only three weeks apart. I think also we are fighting a very well-respected competitor in terms of Ferrari. The way they go about the way we are fighting… when they win a race we can go to them and say well done, and when we win a race, they can say well done, and I really respect that.”

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Although the year finished in Max Verstappen’s favor, we can’t keep the fact out that neither of the top opponents was at their absolute best to give him and the Milton Keynes squad a tough fight. Having said that, do you believe Verstappen will be able to replicate Hamilton’s accomplishments now that his career is at its zenith?