Does Verstappen need to watch out? Rival sharpens his knife to cut the gap

11:27, 13 Jul

Co-author:Kada Sárközi

byHidde Korte

Red Bull Racing is having a tough season, with Max Verstappen being the driver that's scoring the points. The Dutchman might need to watch out for rivals coming from behind instead of looking ahead, as Charles Leclerc is ready to close the gap to him and McLaren as well.

The Ferrari team also had mixed results over the first half of the season. Leclerc could stand on the podium several times, he has also had several disappointing results over the current campaign.

Speaking to GPblog among others, Leclerc mentioned that Ferrari is ready to take on the fight with Red Bull and McLaren and reflected on the first half of the season.

"Much tougher first part of the season than what we expected. I think when you end up last year like we did fighting for victories, fighting for the World Constructors’ Championship, we started this year hoping that at least we’d start in the same position, which was not the case. We struggled a bit more."

"But now we are finding our way again with the development. It definitely helped us to do some steps forward. I know that there are more things coming, hopefully as soon as possible, which will help us to close the gap to McLaren, to Red Bull as well. Mercedes seems to be maybe a bit more up and down. But it’s up to us to do a better job than others and try and catch the guys in front."

Turbulent week for Red Bull and Verstappen

Over this week, Red Bull has fired team principal Christian Horner. The Briton will be replaced by Laurent Mekies, who is promoted from Racing Bulls.

There has been also much speculation about the future of Max Verstappen. Rumours flared up after his yacht was spotted in Sardinia, where Toto Wolff might also have been staying. GPblog has since answered the question whether the two have met or not!