Max Verstappen enjoyed his duel with Charles Leclerc. Some tricks were used to get ahead of the other on the straight and it reminded the Dutchman a lot of the kart duels the two once fought.
Leclerc and Verstappen have known each other longer than today. At a young age, they fought for the world title in karting, resulting in fierce duels. In Formula 1, the respect between the two men seems very high, but they do not shy away from tricks on the track to beat the other. Verstappen laughs at the press conference when he makes the comparison with karting.
Duel with Leclerc
"Well, in go-karting you can rub a bit, you know, with the sidepods and stuff. That's unfortunately not possible anymore in Formula cars. But we have done that in the past. I think we are okay,'' says the Dutchman. Verstappen and Leclerc didn't hit each other yet, but seem to be mostly of the tactical games.
As in Bahrain, it was again about the duel for DRS. In Bahrain Leclerc had always been smarter by leaving Verstappen in front, but in Saudi Arabia things went slightly differently. ''Every battle is different but yeah, well, it's just smart racing and good racing, you know, so just have to deal with it, adjust to it. And yeah, it was a lot of fun. It was not easy but a lot of fun'', concludes the Red Bull Racing driver.