Despite the 2nd World Title, Max Verstappen Wary of Charles Leclerc’s Threat for the 2023 Season: “I Hope for a Closer Battle”

Max Verstappen and Red Bull did not start the 2022 season on a high note. While the Dutchman has a 113-point gulf between him and his teammate Sergio Perez in 2nd, there was a time when he was trailing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 46 points. With the championship race already over, Max would’ve liked a closer battle.

The World Driver’s Championship (WDC) race is already over, even though there are still four more races to go. This is the dominance Max Verstappen and Red Bull have had in 2022. However, the year did not start as well as they would have thought. Red Bull struggled with the car’s weight issues at the beginning of the season. As races progressed, the RB18 went through changes that made it a force to reckon with.

Max Verstappen yearns for a better competition

After winning his 2nd WDC title at the recently concluded Japanese GP, Max Verstappen spoke on how the season progressed. ‘Mad Max’ admitted that he was furious with his team when the gap between him and Charles widened to 46 points.

The champion racer spoke, “At the beginning of the year I was very angry about the situation but if we consider the trend of the entire championship in terms of distance between cars, it is surprising to have such a large lead.” Talking about his desire for a better competition from rivals and hoping to continue the good run in 2023, he said, “it’s nice to have a close battle. We hope to be able to do it again next year.”

The 2022 season has 22 races, which will increase to 24 in 2023. Verstappen, however, is not a fan of longer seasons. “2023 will be a long season. I thought this was bad enough, but we’ll see.”

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While the Flying Dutchman is miles ahead of his teammate at the F1 points table, there is one sport he got completely trumped by him.

Max Verstappen “bullied” by teammate Sergio Perez

Before winning his 2nd title at Suzuka, Max and ‘Checo’ went out for a fun outing. The two showcased their footballing skills, playing a game of “keep it up” with a local fan in Japan.

In the video that had fans in splits, Max makes a cheeky excuse when he couldn’t keep the ball up. “I got the wrong shoes,” he said. Checo, showing his wit, replied, “and wrong legs.”

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The fan who posted the video on Twitter jokingly captioned, “Checo is such a bully [crying emoji].”

Jokes aside, F1 fans would sure hope to see a closer rivalry next season between Verstappen and Leclerc. Wouldn’t you?