Verstappen on Leclerc: 'More or less evened out with the bad luck'

F1 News

12 June 2022 at 19:46
Last update 12 June 2022 at 22:51
  • GPblog.com

Max Verstappen won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix convincingly this weekend. This was partly due to the retirement of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz which ensured that he had little opposition to expect with Sergio Perez. Despite the large lead in the world championship, Verstappen is not counting himself rich yet.

The reigning world champion was very disappointed at the beginning of the season when he had to deal with two dropouts in the first four races. It resulted in Leclerc being able to run up the rankings and even lead by more than forty points. After eight races, however, the roles are completely reversed.

"We knew that we had to play a bit of catch-up," Verstappen states at the press conference of the FIA. "Then of course it seems like now it's more or less evened out with the bad luck and you have to score points every single weekend if you want to really fight for the championship. Everyone knows that, everyone of course tries that, but it's not always that easy."

Leclerc loses the second spot in the rankings

As Leclerc was left without points and Perez captured second place, he passes the Monegasque in the world championship. Perez now has thirteen points more than the rival, while he is 21 points behind Verstappen. The difference between Leclerc and George Russell is seventeen points.