Leclerc: "Duel a little to the limit with Verstappen"

Max Verstappen today in the Sprint in Austria he gave Charles Leclerc the same treatment that Carlos Sainz had towards him on the occasion of the second start at Silverstone in Great Britain, in which the Iberian Ferrari driver kept the lead by squeezing against the wall the former boxing mate at the time of Toro Rosso.

When the traffic lights went out today Verstappen seemed to have a better start, but then he ran into a skid that forced him to defend himself from Charles Leclerc going to cover the inside towards the corner of Curva-1a move that forced the Monegasque to exit the first corner on the right very slowly, losing momentarily the second position to the advantage of Carlos Sainz.

Leclerc pointed out that Verstappen’s move was more than determined: “I got off to a pretty good start and engaged in a duel a bit on the limit with Max – his words – then Carlos overtook me in Turn-3 but I managed to regain my position at the next braking. For the first few laps I focused on tire management so I could push harder towards the end. I would say the plan worked as I progressively managed to go faster and felt comfortable with the Mediums. Battling I lost some time, but it was fun and I don’t think it affected the final result of the Sprint that much. Tire management tomorrow will be essential and I think the race promises to be fun ”.

Tomorrow at the start Leclerc will be able to take advantage of this experience to try to surprise Verstappen in another way and in the same way Sainz maybe he will better interpret Curva-3 in an attempt to attack the Dutchman: “It was a good race today, especially in the early laps where I fought with Max (Verstappen) and Charles. At the start I tried to attack Max in turn 3 but I was unable to hold my position on the outside of the corner. After the initial laps I worked to put the tires back in the optimal window of use and recharge the battery, returning to lap at my pace until the end. The real race is tomorrow and we will face it starting from the same positions as today. We are all very close up front and the fight will be tight. Our rivals seemed to have a little more pace today but tomorrow we will do our best to give them a hard time “explained the Spanish Ferrari driver.