SUN HAVEN RACES DRIVER

His mental toughness is one of his greatest strengths – and his focus will simply be on winning the Belgian Grand Prix and then winning in the Netherlands and then winning in Italy, each time letting the points look after themselves.

SUN HAVEN RACES DRIVER

And if results fall Verstappen’s way, the Red Bull driver could statistically win the championship in four races’ time in Singapore.īut Leclerc won’t be looking at it like that. Leclerc knows he faces the steepest of hills to claw himself back into contention. It’s a lot to take for a 24 year old experiencing a championship fight for the first time in his F1 career. Leclerc needed the summer break more than anyone, the Monegasque slapped with some sort of disappointment at nearly every race from Imola onwards. But judging on how the season has unfolded so far, this is undeniably his to lose now. Verstappen will know that a DNF here and there can change things – and so won’t be getting carried away. But by then, the championship fight could well be over, in his favour. Looking at the races to come, it’s hard to see anywhere where he and Red Bull – who are operating at a very high level, both in terms of development and strategy – won’t be strong.

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The reward is being in a position where he could miss the first three races after the summer break and still be leading the championship with six Grands Prix then to go. When he does – like his spin in Hungary – he makes up for it. That opening sequence of races, which saw him retire from two of the first three because of mechanical issues, seems like a long time ago. It has echoes of Michael Schumacher’s dominant 2002 campaign, or Sebastian Vettel’s 2011 title-winning season.Įven on weekends when things haven’t gone his way, like in Monaco when he was oddly off the pace and couldn’t get the balance right or find confidence in the car, or in Hungary when he was forced to start P10 after an engine issue, he has rescued things on Sunday afternoon. The result has been a brilliant run of eight wins in 13 Grands Prix so far this year. And that has seen him race smarter and harness his incredible speed into an even more potent weapon. He doesn’t need to prove himself anymore. But last year’s world title success has added another string to an already fearsome bow.

Verstappen’s raw talent and confident approach in wheel-to-wheel battling has been evident since the moment he first raced an F1 car for Toro Rosso back in 2015. This has been a near faultless campaign for Verstappen, who is an improved version of himself after delivering on lofty expectations and winning his first Formula 1 World Championship last year. WATCH: F1 tech expert Albert Fabrega and Rosanna Tennant explain all on the new 2026 power unit regulations Why this is Verstappen’s to lose Verstappen is in the box seat to defend his maiden title – but Leclerc is still in the fight… They will renew their championship battle at next weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix knowing what is required respectively to get the job done. Verstappen delivered one of his greatest ever comeback drives at the Hungarian Grand Prix to win from P10 on the grid – his fourth triumph in six races – while Leclerc suffered another strategy misjudgement that left him 80 points adrift in the championship fight. The summer break is over, but title rivals Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc emerge having entered the period in very different moods.

Sun haven races