Heading into the 2023 season, there is only one favorite. One driver outclassed the entire grid and finished the season with record-breaking 15-race wins in a season. Despite the superiority of Max Verstappen and Red Bull, there are still some who predict a more competitive outing for the champions in 2023. Sky Sports’ veteran TV presenter Ted Kravitz made that prediction, with Charles Leclerc being the thorn in Verstappen’s sights.

As we all know, Leclerc and Ferrari had an incredible start to life in 2022 but quickly fell off the wagon, leaving Verstappen plenty of room to cruise through. The events of 2022 led to Mattia Binotto vacating his post, giving way to Frederic Vasseur. With this change in management and hopefully learning from their mistakes, Ferrari will put up a better fight in 2023.

Kravitz made this prediction while speaking to the Sky Sports network. “I’ve got high hopes for Ferrari,” said Kravitz. “I think they can be up there sustaining a championship challenge with Red Bull all season long. I’d like to think it’s going to be very tight and go down to the last race between what will potentially be Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.”

There is no doubt about Leclerc’s ability. However, Ferrari, with their strategic errors and unreliability issues, raised a lot of questions about the team’s ability to support the Monegasque.

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Some believe Ferrari’s ability to support its drivers will be the deciding factor in the championship race. However, Kravitz believes it will be Vasseur who will make the difference.

Who will lead the Ferrari challenge against Max Verstappen? Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz?

Every team must make the difficult choice of choosing a lead driver to fight for the driver’s championship. Ferrari has two very capable drivers on their hands. However, Vasseur has made it clear only performance and not seniority or affiliations with the team will be the deciding factor.

The Sky presenter believes this outlook toward the championship will work in Ferrari’s favor. “Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have equal equipment and an equal chance to go for the championship until which time he decides it’s in Ferrari’s best interests to favor one driver for the Championship. Then he will make that call. That was more than Binotto ever said about focusing on one driver for the Championship,” he said.

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This outlook of putting the best foot forward is the way to go until the team can take decisive action is the way to go according to Kravitz. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top in the Ferrari garage and if that would be enough to dethrone Verstappen.