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"Leclerc is Red Bull Racing's best friend"
- GPblog.com
Norbert Haug thinks it will be very difficult to overtake Max Verstappen in the battle for the world championship after the French Grand Prix. The former vice president of motorsport operations at Mercedes, which also includes Formula 1, reckons that Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing will not give away this 63-point lead in the drivers' standings.
Overtaking Verstappen is a big challenge
"This was like a slap in the face. The gap to Verstappen has doubled. Even if Leclerc wins ten more times and Verstappen comes second ten times, that would only be just enough for Leclerc. That shows how difficult it has become now. To beat Verstappen in ten races on our own, that will be very difficult," Haug said in a broadcast by AvD Motor & Sport Magazin.
Helmut Marko himself thinks Max Verstappen needs three to five more Grands Prix to win the world title. Of course, this is on condition that the Dutchman achieves a good result every time in the other GPs of 2022 and does not suffer from DNFs. Verstappen himself is not at all preoccupied with the World Championship and is simply looking at it from weekend to weekend.
Crash Leclerc
Leclerc could have hit himself in the head after his mistake at Paul Ricard and Haug understands. "It is unusual for a leader to crash like that. It only happens every few years. Leclerc is Red Bull Racing's best friend. They have made many mistakes," said Haug, who argues that the Austrian GP is actually the cause of the misery.
If Sainz's engine had not blown up at the Red Bull Ring, Sainz would not have had to start from the back and Ferrari could easily have scored a one-two in qualifying, according to Haug. Leclerc could then have joined Sainz in the battle against Verstappen. The 60-year-old German believes Ferrari should have scored 43 points in Le Castellet instead of the ten Sainz was able to take home.