Verstappen and Leclerc feel the fight: "I'm not going to lie on the beach now

Charles Leclerc has often struggled with the loose rear of his Ferrari F1-75 and in France it resulted in a DNF. The Monegasque knows what he needs to do to bounce back and seems ready for the Hungarian GP.

Special connection with Vettel

Speaking to the cameras of Sky Sports, Leclerc first briefly addressed the retirement of his former teammate at Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel: "He is a legend of the sport. I raced with him in the same team for two years and I grew a lot as a driver and as a person. He has seen me change and there is a special connection with that. He has always been very nice to me, he is a simple nice guy. I hope he will still come and watch us race in the years to come."

Leclerc moves on after mistake

Speaking about his own weekend in Hungary, in which he is seen as the favourite by his own rival Max Verstappen, Leclerc says he has thought hard about the costly mistake he made in France. Sky Sports asks him if he will adjust the rear of his car differently in future: "No, that was exactly what helped me in most races. I felt good in the car. On some tracks I had a hard time getting it under control, like in Miami I struggled during the race. I feel like I got better and better at it. The downside is that it is difficult to drive like that, but I am a racing driver. I pushed too hard on that lap and had to pay the price."

The price Leclerc had to pay was very high. It was 25 points that Leclerc lost to Verstappen. The Dutchman won a lot of points. Leclerc: "The best reaction now is to win this weekend and I will try to do that. I feel I am ready for the championship. This is my strongest year in F1. Mistakes like last week show that I still have something to learn, but I will get there."

Verstappen not going to lie on the beach yet

At the press conference Verstappen reacted to the lead he now has after Leclerc's mistake: "If you know me you know I'm not going to lie on the beach now. I don't care about the gap either. It's about driving perfectly every weekend. When you have the lead, you don't relax. I want to win more races and we are going to do that as a team."