VIDEO | Max Verstappen vs Charles Leclerc - The next great rivalry

The start of the 2022 F1 season has been electric and enthralling to say the least with Ferrari and Red Bull at the head of the field, while Mercedes, who have won eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships, have struggled to adjust to the new regulations.

The team of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell may sit ahead of Red Bull in the standings, but that’s simply due to the reliability issues Christian Horner’s team had in round one, which they appear to have somewhat fixed. However, with Mercedes lagging behind in the early stages, it’s allowed one rivalry to come to the fore.

F1 is often determined by its great driver rivalries, dating back to the early days of the championship. James Hunt vs Niki Lauda, Alain Prost vs Ayrton Senna, and Michael Schumacher vs Mika Hakkinen are just three of the most well-known driver rivalries over the years.

Last year it was the turn of Lewis Hamilton vs Max Verstappen, and that was a battle that certainly boiled over during the season. What started as a friendly rivalry with immense levels of respect soon turned sour, with several crashes between the pair. But, in 2022 with Hamilton and Mercedes off the pace slightly, a new rivalry has emerged. But, the term ‘new’ should be used loosely here as the pair do have history.

I’m of course talking about Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, who each have one race victory to their name at the time this video is released. The two look the class of the 2022 field so far, with their team-mates just slightly off their incredibly high level.

Momentum may be in Verstappen’s favour following his last-gasp title win last season and his win in Saudi Arabia, but Leclerc is a supreme talent despite the fact he is new to an F1 title race. The Ferrari driver won two races in 2019, but wasn’t close to winning the championship, and his team’s drop into the midfield resulted in two years of no wins. Verstappen has the edge in terms of experience of an F1 title fight, but Leclerc has the knowledge given his championship wins in his feeder-series days, something Verstappen never achieved. 

Ferrari are now back with a car good enough to compete at the very front of the grid and Leclerc looks to be making the most of it.

Why this battle is one for the ages

There are a few things that make a great F1 rivalry: two evenly matched talents in evenly matched cars, fierce on-track battles, and uncertainty of who will come out on top. Of course there are more than those three things, but they are important elements.Leclerc vs Verstappen ticks all three boxes already, which is a good start. Furthermore, they are both 24 years old, which means it’s a battle and a rivalry that could well continue over the next decade of Formula One.Leclerc has always threatened to break into the title fight, even in his Sauber days or dating further back to his immense F2 winning season, but hasn’t had the machinery to compete. Now he does, and he’s making the most of it.

The Monegasque driver has shown his talent behind the wheel since arriving in F1, but this year it’s been even more evident. With arguably the quickest car on the grid, he’s managed situations with a maturity beyond his years and has shown why the tags of ‘generational driver’ have been attached to him for so long.

As for Verstappen, he’s been around the block despite his young age, and seems to be relishing the battle with Leclerc. The pair have raced hard, but fair during the opening two rounds of the 2022 season, with no contact between the two, and simply excellent close on-track racing being displayed. However, this was also how Verstappen vs Hamilton started, so it could soon reach a tipping point where it becomes unsavoury. 

But, for now F1 fans can enjoy a clean battle between two evenly matched world-class drivers.

With their age, Leclerc and Verstappen will be in F1 for years to come and if the regulations stay the same then Red Bull and Ferrari could well be the dominant forces of this new era of the sport. If that’s the case, then it will provide the platform for these two drivers to go head-to-head for many more years to come.

Of course, drivers like George Russell and Lando Norris could get involved if Mercedes and McLaren find solutions to their relative lack of pace, but for now it seems as though it’s all about Verstappen against Leclerc.

The pair have a mutual respect and even an off-track friendship which could make the duel even more enticing. Their rivalry even dates way back to their karting days when the now-famous clip shows an angry Verstappen complaining after a collision between the pair, before Leclerc says to an interviewer it was “just an incident.”

That seemed to start their rivalry, and it has continued into the premier class of motorsport. 2022 appears to be the year they take their duel to the next level, but it’s already been seen in the past in F1. Back in 2019, the pair came into contact while fighting for the lead at the Austrian Grand Prix. While their battles have been clean so far in 2022, three years ago that wasn’t the case. The two banged wheels with two laps to go, and Verstappen came out on top in the battle, overtaking Leclerc for the race lead, which he maintained until the chequered flag. The pair naturally held differing views on the incident, but it was the first of many expected encounters between the two in F1.

They are the two most likely to take on the mantle left when Hamilton eventually leaves the sport and based on the evidence we’ve seen so far, it promises to be an epic duel drawn out over several years.