Charles Leclerc must take a leaf out of Max Verstappen’s book after mishap in France

Much like Verstappen during his first title challenge in 2021, Leclerc is going through a similar learning curve this season

Cast your mind back to April, three races in to the 2022 season, and Max Verstappen’s exasperation at the opening of his World Championship defence was writ large. However the solution, following retirements in Bahrain and Australia, was refreshingly crystal clear.

“I don’t even want to think about the championship fight at the moment,” the Belgian-Dutch said after his DNF in Melbourne. “It’s more important just to finish races.”

Doubling down on that philosophy, Verstappen has gone on to finish every Grand Prix since, winning six of the nine 25-point first-place cash-ins on offer. He has finished off the podium just once and a 108-point swing has seen Charles Leclerc’s lead go from 46 points to a 62-point deficit, following the Ferrari driver’s third retirement of the season in France on Sunday.

Experience of fighting for a World Championship is unequivocally a pivotal factor in any F1 title race. Rewind 12 months to Silverstone when Verstappen, in his first serious title challenge, crashed out on lap one and handed the momentum back to Lewis Hamilton when, in reality, any sort of podium points-finish would have sufficed in the grander scheme of a 21-race calendar.

Verstappen’s renewed focus on totting up points race-by-race highlights his growing maturity with that first World Championship under his belt. Early in Sunday’s race at Paul Ricard – likely to be the last French GP for some time with the event’s contract running out this year and no extension likely – the Red Bull driver was hot on the heels of Leclerc’s pacey Ferrari.

Yet despite consistently staying within the DRS zone, Verstappen played it safe and opted against all-out attack. The race – and the season for that matter – is a long game and memorable lunges for the lead pose a far greater risk than simply keeping the car on the tarmac. Duly, the Red Bull driver reaped the rewards.

Much like Verstappen in 2021, Leclerc is currently going through a similar learning curve. Following Australia, pushing too hard at Imola to catch Sergio Perez in second saw Leclerc’s F1-75 spin off track and while he recovered to finish sixth, that should have served as a stark warning.

Verstappen played it safe and opted against all-out attack, reaping the rewards later on (Getty Images)

Instead, a combination of mechanical failures and incorrect strategy calls since has seen Leclerc play the role of the chaser. Austria two weeks ago brought a much-needed win, but France was the perfect chance to maintain that momentum. Instead, with a lap-18 boom and bust, what could have been a Verstappen lead of 31 points is now double that.

Ahead of Hungary this week – a must-win for Ferrari with Mercedes now chasing them down in the Constructors’ Championship too – Leclerc needs to take a leaf out of Verstappen’s book as the summer break approaches. Second-place and 18 points is no disaster; a DNF and zero points very much is.

“It’s my fault and if I keep doing mistakes like this then I deserve not to win the championship,” Leclerc admitted on Sunday. “I’m losing too many points.” The question for Leclerc now, though, is will a change of mindset come too late to claw back a seismic deficit?