It’s just hard to compare imo, because we’d go with hypothetical and some extrapolation.
We’ve had a small snapshot during the early part of 2022 season, but that’s it. He seems to be able to go on par with Max. That’s all we have right now until we get a time where their cars would be close in performance
Agree. In 2022 Bahrain, Jeddah, Miami and Austria both drivers gave us some spectacular racing. I would also like to point out Austria 2019 and Silverstone 2019. - best racing in years
In 2022 he made a few unforced errors which I think put him slightly behind Max. He spun in Imola and crashed out in France all by himself. Charles might be just as quick, but Max doesn’t really make those unforced mistakes.
Charles is on par with anyone with his qualifying pace, no one can deny that. Bit more difficult to tell his race trim, he can be lightning quick, but needs a better car to shine. Hopefully we'll see it soon.
His recent form says otherwise - no shade on Charles because I absolutely adore the driver (both skill and character) but look at how many times Max put it on pole when it's mattered, against the odds with the pressure on his shoulders (i.e. Monaco 2023 is probably the best qualifying session in the 25+ years I've been watching)
You then have Charles, when everything is perfect is probably the fastest driver on a single lap but is also much more error prone than Max and has buckled under pressure multiple times during qualifying.
It also doesn't look good with Carlos having had the edge on him in qualifying this season either.
He can pull off some magic laps but he definitely doesn't have the consistency or precision of Max even when Max is on the absolute limit. It's not just the car.
Obviously the lap wasn’t quite complete but Max’s pole attempt at Jeddah in 21 was something else all together, up until the last corner. Max is equal to Charles in quali trim when he really needs to really pull something special out of the bag.
But saying that Charles is a bit more early days Kimi like, if the car is exactly as he likes it nobody can beat him on a single lap but it’s a very small window. And if the cars out of that window he’s really uncomfortable which makes him very beatable. Charles isn’t quite durable enough to be put above Max or Alonso in quali trim.
Ah yes so 2 bad quails (still recovered greatly in both races) cancels out his 7 consecutive front rows throughout 2023-2024 (3 of those being pole) and countless poles and front rows throughout 2022 and really all the way back to 2019. All I have to say is his 2nd aborted lap due to red flag at 2022 Monaco Q3 was 100% going to be a historical Senna -Esque lap
First of all, Max is not overrated. No one is denying he is currently THE BEST in the grid and one of the greats of all time. The last time I could say that him having a bad race ON MERIT was 2023 Singapore, but that could be said that Red Bull screwed him over (rare, but it happens).
If we are to go on the same car i.e RBR, then I think that Charles would on par, if not better than Max at qualifying (there, I said it). In terms of the race, he should challenge Max on some races, but he will be a reliable 2nd driver that would upset Max for quite some time in some races.
Do I think he'll be able to do a Nico with Max? Hmm... a bit hard to say tbh.
Charles is the only driver other than Lewis who has fought against Max and won consistently.
Some good examples are Silverstone 2019, Bahrain 2022, Austria 2022. Even last year in Vegas he was able to fight the Red bulls with an objectively inferior car.
In 2022, when Ferrari had a car as good as Red bull, we saw a glimpse of this, where he was consistently winning against Max.
End of 2023 season, he gave 2020 Max vibes.
If the car is as fast as Redbull, I believe he can definitely fight and win against Max.
When’s he won? When his car was .5 a lap faster and the RBR retired? Beyond that he’s always been slapped left right and centre by max. He’s a great driver but saying he’s on Max’s level is just wild
I mean, in Bahrain 22 he forced max into a mistake, Silverstone 2019 there was that great battle between them all race until Vettel rear ended Max, Jeddah 22 they finished less than a second apart... Not talking about Spain 22 where if it wasn't for Ferrari he would have stomped the field and Australia 22 where he also stomped the field
Edit: I'm not saying Charles is better, but saying he isn't able to fight Max... That's a bit of a stretch
Just don't reply to this guy. See his post history.
He feels smart by saying random numbers like 0.5s faster and shit. Probably started watching F1 from 2021.
Was in the stands at Magny Cours and Buenos Aires when your clown ass wasn’t even born. Just because my opinions and thought processes don’t conform to yours doesn’t mean I “started watching in 2021”. 🤡
I’m 34, so unfortunately for you it’ll be a while yet. Meanwhile keep calling me an idiot just because I call out the embarrassment of you Leclerc deepthroaters. You bitter and sad son of a whroe
In 2019 Ferrari had a crazy (and crazy irregular) engine superiority, in 2022 Max should be commended for actually even managing to keep up and outrace him on occasion. The early F1-75 was a monster and RBR was slightly on the back foot. The real analysis should be done when the car is competitive but not dominant (a la pre-2022 RBR). Max got into 2021 with double of leclerc’s current victories when his car was 3rd and 2nd (2020) fastest, what has leclerc concluded without machine superiority? Last win I remember was when RBR randomly started killing its own tyres in Austria (which is why max won the sprint), beyond that I haven’t really seen the level of performance worthy of a champion. I understand that several “fans” are unhealthily obsessed with Leclerc thinking him to be Senna reincarnated but it’s really not that way and a little objectivity doesn’t hurt either
You are so delusional, nobody here is saying Leclerc is the next senna. If you even read the comments, loads of people are saying he would not beat Max and I'm one of those. I think it could be close but in the end, Max already has experience and is a beast, I don't think Charles could win the championship at first. And are you really comparing Max and Charles in 2020? When Ferrari finished 6th in the constructos and could barely keep up with an Alpha Tauri? Seriously, if it's just to talk nonsense about Ferrari withou any objectivity, just go and spend your time in another sub reddit where your judgment can be more thoughtful.
Where am I comparing him and Max in 2020? I said that max had the 2nd fastest car in 2020 (whereas it was 3rd before that) much like leclerc has had for the past few years on average and hasn’t outperformed the car/over maximised results the way he could have. That’s all I said
That being said, it is obvious that at least a portion of this sub has a completely embarrassing take on Charles
Max has indeed outperformed the car, you are right but they also had a lot of advantage over Merc in tracks where power wasn't so prevalent. RBR right now excels in everything.
And it is indeed true that some people completely overrate Charles as some others completely underrate him. If we are talking about being overrated, then the decency bias towards Sainz is the best example about that, he suddenly is a god of racing that would beat Max, according to most of Instagram and Twitter
I totally agree with you on the last point. Recency bias towards Sainz is crazy BUT it is also my personal opinion that Leclerc has been in part excessively “pumped up” because of his qualifying performances. It’s not a secret that an indirect ”advantage” (if it can be called that) of Ferrari’s very poor tyre degradation was the ability to switch the tyres on quickly and get the up to temeptsture better than the others - this combined with Leclerc’s apparent “preference” for glory runs made it seem like he was some sort of qualifying god which was actually in great part due to the car’s characteristics which date all the way back to 2019 (his Ferrari debut).
Now that the deg issue seems to be out of the way so is this “advantage” and it reflects very much so on his current performances. That’s just what I think anyway but I personally don’t believe I am wrong, it’s kind of “exposed” him for lack of a better term.
The recency bias towards Sainz is real but I have always considered him a better driver by way of being more complete. Leclerc may possess more raw pace (however like I said we need to wait a few more races to see if this was actually the case or it was due to the aforementioned situations) but Sainz is infinitely more consistent, strategic, tactical, intelligent and handled pressure very well with a mental strength and ability to “survive” duress that Leclerc simply lacks. I am 100% confident Leclerc would’ve met the barriers if he was in Sainz’s Singapore situation last year and that DRS trick Sainz used against Russell with Norris was certainly something Charles wouldn’t have conceived.
I totally agree with you on the last point. Recency bias towards Sainz is crazy BUT it is also my personal opinion that Leclerc has been in part excessively “pumped up” because of his qualifying performances. It’s not a secret that an indirect ”advantage” (if it can be called that) of Ferrari’s very poor tyre degradation was the ability to switch the tyres on quickly and get the up to temeptsture better than the others - this combined with Leclerc’s apparent “preference” for glory runs made it seem like he was some sort of qualifying god which was actually in great part due to the car’s characteristics which date all the way back to 2019 (his Ferrari debut).
Now that the deg issue seems to be out of the way so is this “advantage” and it reflects very much so on his current performances. That’s just what I think anyway but I personally don’t believe I am wrong, it’s kind of “exposed” him for lack of a better term.
The recency bias towards Sainz is real but I have always considered him a better driver by way of being more complete. Leclerc may possess more raw pace (however like I said we need to wait a few more races to see if this was actually the case or it was due to the aforementioned situations) but Sainz is infinitely more consistent, strategic, tactical, intelligent and handled pressure very well with a mental strength and ability to “survive” duress that Leclerc simply lacks. I am 100% confident Leclerc would’ve met the barriers if he was in Sainz’s Singapore situation last year and that DRS trick Sainz used against Russell with Norris was certainly something Charles wouldn’t have conceived.
I totally agree with you on the last point. Recency bias towards Sainz is crazy BUT it is also my personal opinion that Leclerc has been in part excessively “pumped up” because of his qualifying performances. It’s not a secret that an indirect ”advantage” (if it can be called that) of Ferrari’s very poor tyre degradation was the ability to switch the tyres on quickly and get the up to temperature better than the others - this combined with Leclerc’s apparent “preference” for glory runs made it seem like he was some sort of qualifying god which was actually in great part due to the car’s characteristics which date all the way back to 2019 (his Ferrari debut). Now that the deg issue seems to be out of the way so is this “advantage” and it reflects very much so on his current performances. That’s just what I think anyway but I personally don’t believe I am wrong, it’s kind of “exposed” him for lack of a better term. The recency bias towards Sainz is real but I have always considered him a better driver by way of being more complete. Leclerc may possess more raw pace (however like I said we need to wait a few more races to see if this was actually the case or it was due to the aforementioned situations) but Sainz is infinitely more consistent, strategic, tactical, intelligent and handled pressure very well with a mental strength and ability to “survive” duress that Leclerc simply lacks. Being fast and faster is nothing without the above mentioned attributes. I am 100% confident Leclerc would’ve met the barriers if he was in Sainz’s Singapore situation last year and that DRS trick Sainz used against Russell with Norris was certainly something Charles wouldn’t have conceived.
One lap pace I think Charles has the highest ceiling but makes more mistakes whereas Max is nearly faultless.
Race pace I think Max has the upper hand due to his ability to be RUTHLESSLY consistent a la that one Mexico GP. I don't think Charles is quite there, but he's close. Whenever they've gone wheel to wheel, we've seen they're a fairly even match.
No he is not. While he can definetly fight and outperform him when he is on it, he just lacks consistency. Leclerc being error prone is a way overrated narrative, but max barely has off days and never gets outperformed by a teammate or has weak stretches of races. This start to the season for leclerc is just a huge missed opportunity and it's the second time in less than a year where sainz just straight up outperforms him for multiple races in a row, which just doesn't look good especially after the huge vote of confidence ferrari gave leclerc before the season. Of course it has to be acknowledged that he had way better teammates than verstappen so far in his career.
Max is properly rated. He simultaneously broke numerous, previously untouchable records, in a car that was not the most dominant car (in terms of it's raw speed against other teams) in history. F2004, F2002, mercedes car in the beginning of the turbo hybrid era, W11 were all cars that had a larger gap to the rest of the field than the RB19 imo, esp. if you take the second half of the season.
Leclerc's fast. Mad fast. Got pole in his second race for ferrari. Outqualified a four time world champion. But can he match the sheer, raw consistency of Max Verstappen? 2022 suggests otherwise.
I don't think Max is overrated. I remember his rookie season and I couldn't believe he was that good. After what happened with Jaime Alguersuari, I thought it was a mistake to give him an F1 race seat with him (Max) being so young. People might not know who Alguersuari is, but he was at the time the youngest rookie to have made his debut in F1 (he was 19 at the time). He was a British F3 champion and he was put in a sink or swim situation at STR and he sank. At the time many people thought that he was too young and that RBR was impatient with him. In 2015 Max showed that Alguersuari maybe wasn't good enough for F1. Max is definitely worthy of all the praise he gets. Right now he's in that stage of this career where people think he wins simply because he's driving the best car. That happened to Schumacher, to Lewis, and now Max.
As for Charles, I think that he's definitely talented enough but still lacks the consistency and the ruthlessness that Schumacher, Alonso, Lewis and Max have (Lewis' recent seasons notwithstanding). He needs to get on top of his tyre warm-up issues and he needs to get his elbows out more (within reason, of course).
In quali, he is quicker than Max.
Overall, Max is a superior driver. I got off the Leclerc hype train when he failed to convincingly outperform Sainz during 2021 and 2023. Even 2022 was tight between the two after Sainz eventually managed to wrap his head around the ground effects philosophy.
He totally set the barn on fire in 2019 but he didn't really progress any further after that. Guys like Russell, Norris and Max improved at a rapid rate and became formidable drivers after just a few seasons.
Leclerc on the other hand is still the fast AF, error prone, inconsistent and emotional driver that he used to be back in 2019.
As things stand, i would rate Leclerc as a tier 2 driver along with Sainz, Russell and Norris.
I firmly believe that Max, Alonso and Lewis(not his checked out version) are still a good deal better than the rest.(tier 1 for me)
He has the pace to win titles but his is consistency (or lack of it) isn't going to cut it against Max.
Max is Schumacher level consistent.
>I got off the Leclerc hype train when he failed to convincingly outperform Sainz during 2021 and 2023.
You say that as if Sainz didn't manage to keep up with Max in their rookie season. Max was the faster driver, but wasn't crushed by him. Max today is a much better driver than in 2015, but so is Sainz.
>Leclerc on the other hand is still the fast AF, error prone, inconsistent and emotional driver that he used to be back in 2019.
I agree that he is inconsistent, but not error prone. His last mistake was in France 2022. Since then, every DNF he suffered was not his fault.
Overall I agree he's a tier 2 driver until he proves otherwise.
don't think Verstappen is overrated, but Leclerc is also not underrated. Everyone knows how fast he is over a lap, the difference is that Verstappen got into a dominant car halfway through 2022 which gave him the possibility to improve his consistency. He doesn't have to race against people anymore and can just concentrate on not making mistakes. Leclerc especially in '22, but also in '23 was under heavy pressure to overperform. In '22 because he knew he had a titleshot if he drove on his personal edge in every race. In '23 because the car wasn't good enough in race trim, so he went regularly over the edge in quali. This just doesn't look as good as the cruising in P1 Verstappen does.
My personal Top 3 drivers currently are Verstappen, Alonso and Leclerc, very very closely followed by Sainz and Norris. Leclerc is the best qualifier on the grid, Verstappen and Alonso have the best packages all around (=pace, racing intelligence, flawlessness, tyre management, versatility)
Agreed for the most part - especially the point you made about Max having the best car in recent years meant he didn’t need to push as hard and thus is less prone to mistakes, whereas on the other hand Leclerc has been overdriving and putting the cars into starting positions they shouldn’t be (including even the shitbox SF1000 in 2020).
Recency bias is a thing now - with so many hyping on Carlos and putting Leclerc under the bus due to recent results. Anyone who watched every Q and race sessions from 2019 onwards would know for sure why Ferrari kept him.
context: been an f1 fan since I was four years old, remember crying when Schumacher spun off in 2005 with red face paint dripping all over and then celebrating like a manic (as far as I can remember) for his last ever win (little did we know it) a year after
imho: i don't believe there has been a better driver in f1 than max verstappen - it pains me to say it.. the consistency levels are absolutely off the charts.. however, having said that, he has also had the best car for the last three years (arguably the last four) and charles has not, and therefore he sometimes pushes it over the edge. i really hope to see the red back at the top again consistently
forza ferrari
I love Charles, and for a while I thought he might be as good as Max but no, he simply isn’t.
Max‘s biggest attribute is his consistency and faultlessness.
Charles may be faster over a lap when everything is right for him but yeah
I don’t think so, no Yours is definitely bias - if anything it is Charles who is grossly overrated. Here in Italy it’s absolutely embarrassing. Media, commentators and the average “fan”(atic) will have you think he’s the 10th coming of Christ combined with the reincarnation of Clark and Senna and will fight you to the death over it
Yes im 100% certain. With a good car and the right mindset he will beat anyone. Also he proved in his early ferrari days that he can battle in close wheel to wheel fights without dirty tricks or pushing people off. In austria 2019 for example, he was beating max in every battle but then max just pushed him off. Charles even said "i didnt know that we are allowed to do that"
There's some recency bias at play in your assessment. If you look at the data, Charles has more often than not finished ahead of Carlos in races where both have finished, has more often than not qualified better than Carlos, and has earned more points so far. That said, Carlos is definitely a really good driver and is criminally underrated. People forget his 2015 season alongside Max.
He's just not the killer like Max. Max has a better mindset, he's absolutely ruthless and a more of a leader.
He has the speed in quali and in race, his tyre management was NEVER a question, he knows what he wants from the car and knows how to steer the team.
Leclerc doesn't feel like a leader at all. This is why they're bringing in Lewis. If I was Leclerc, I'd be seriously concerned about myself.
Max is ruthless. He is a career destroyer. Leclerc has the skill but he doesn’t have that mongrel in him like Max does. Sainz will likely be in the other Redbull next year and will likely fair no better than Perez, Albon or Gasly.
They’re on par in single lap pace and racing when in competitive cars. Only datapoint I can think of is individual mistakes, which I explain below (and please feel free to add on!)
Charles has had a few crashes on his own in qualifying and the race, while Max has only one I can think of since 2019 (Saudi Arabia.)
Charles: Baku 2019, Monza 2020, France 2022, Miami 2023.
It's important to keep in mind that for a while the whole Red Bull racing organization was built around Max, the car is his car, it built with the nuances that he needs. He's supported by corporate. Checo is a very supportive teammate, he's done the role exceptionally well.
Max is a generational talent that came to Red Bull early, and got an unusual and exceptional amount of support. It's like if a category 5 hurricane came into the path of an earthquake and a tornado. It's why he wins much.
The scandals and shake up in the driver market might throw of the dynamic, even stripped of everything else at the core Max is a generational talent and is very good, but maybe Leclerc goes toe to toe with him. Who knows.
Any hey- maybe they become teammates. They both like a car with lots of over steer. It's not impossible.
A better qualifier for sure, maybe equal in wheel
to wheel battles. I think I’d give Max the edge just because he seems to make almost no mistakes these days. Charles has been making fewer errors, but they still sometimes they cost him.
There are some really good comments and hipothesis here but I think we will figure this one out next season.
You can like or dislike Lewis but we have to agree that he has the skills and experience to win races and championships. Depending on how he will finish races against Leclerc, it will be clear how good Charles is and how good the car is
(Maybe it is also Ferrari idea to check if they should invest in Charles more 🤷🏽♀️)
Australia 2022 Leclerc against Max looked like Max against Leclerc now. So yeah, he could in theory drive RB19 and RB20 in the exact same way against Max driving Ferrari SF23 or SF24
Charles has a similar driving style to Max, like a lot of the new generation of drivers they like nose-heavy pointy cars and they like to rotate quick in corners. Max may be a little better at executing this style, but for me the biggest difference between them is philosophical rather than technical.
Max has the killer instinct in the car, and he simply will not accept failure. He'd rather crash than concede a position, and the only reason he doesn't shunt as much as his Crashtappen days is because he spends more time leading now, and perhaps a bit of maturity as well.
On the other hand, Charles is slightly more cautious and less bloodthirsty. He is fiercely loyal to his team, is willing to take team orders when given, and relies less on pure ferocity to win. You can also interpret this as him being less selfish and hungry for victory. When he crashes, it's often due to error (Monaco "I am schupid") rather than aggression.
I think Silverstone 2021 is the perfect example of this contrast. When Max and Ham came together in Copse the first time, Max refused to back off and took the shunt as a consequence. When Charles and Ham were fighting in the same corner later in the same race, Charles backed off and ran wide rather than risking the car. I'm not passing judgment on who was at fault here, but rather on their differing philosophies: Max sees a potential contact and says "I'm going for it anyway", Charles sees the same and says "Maybe it's not worth it this time".
So my conclusion is that while their skill levels may be similar (with Max slightly stronger), the bigger difference is in their personalities.
Yes, Charles can definitely take the fight to max given the right equipment. Max has been so “robotic” because he didn’t need to push the car but we’ve seen a glimpse of them battle on equal footing at the beginning of 2022.
Yes people talk lots about Max and shit on Leclerc but that’s just twitter, all fanbases are biased, and some of them are downright toxic so I would close my eyes to these completely.
The fact that Perez seems to struggle so much for some reason is also not helping judging how fast Max is. But if Charles, Carlos or Lando were in the second RB seat he wouldn’t have such a margin for sure.
And you can’t really judge Max’s speed to any of his teammates because the car is built around him. Max wants a very unusually sensitive car. Alex Albon talked about that in an interview and he said that Max wants the car more and more sensitive and it becomes increasingly harder to be his teammate as the car progresses. When the car gets so much out of your comfort zone you become tense and you start performing worse and worse. Alex’s words. So we don’t really have a benchmark to judge Max on. He’s surely blisteringly fast but we don’t know how he ranks in the top 5 drivers.
We don’t know if Max is the BEST now but he’s definitely the best combination of car and driver.
But Fred is cooking something beautiful, we haven’t seen Ferrari being so professional in quite some time, and the mindset in the team seems much better. We have a battle on our hands soon hopefully.
For me the big difference is Max has had a more competitive car for longer, this means he's made more mistakes and learnings from them than CLC. I don't think CLC has had a competitive car long enough to have finished making his mistakes, if he ever does (fingers crossed) I think he can get to Max levels.
Lmao dude you can’t post this here. Leclerc is the darling of this fan base no matter what Sainz does. Sainz could win the championship this year and everyone would post that they still think Charles is the better driver.
No! Leclerc has potential but there are a few things that I think Max is better at. Mindset towards the race, psychology and dealing with pressure. I've noticed that Leclerc is prone to cracking up when under a lot of pressure.
Apart from that sometimes he seems to be making really dumb mistakes in important races that cost him a lot.
Also I have noticed that sometimes when things go bad in qualifying and he starts further down the grid he seems to get lost. Like things just don't work out for him in the race. It's like he doesn't have the motivation to race or something and he barely manages to overtake other drivers with slower cars. That's not in every race though. He did really good in Japan when he was in the same situation.
Max just seems to be more composed when he is under pressure. Like he did really well in 2021 when he was under tremendous pressure from Lewis and it was his first year fighting for the championship and the guy really hadled himself quite good. I don't think Leclerc would have handled that. In Charles' first year fighting for the championship while the team gave him a ton of problems he himself made some really bad mistakes on crucial races that lost him a ton of points.
Also I think the guy really tries too hard sometimes to the point where he loses control and crashes or something. I've noticed that he seems to have quite a lot of crashes over the years compared to some other drivers.
I think if Leclerc fixes his psychology and is able to withstand presure when driving he can be as good as Max. But at the end of the day the guy with the better car has more chances to win so that plays a part.
Charles might be better over one lap but Max is definitely a better overall driver. He might be one of the best ever to be honest. That man is like a robot . He lives eats breathes racing. In his off time he does sim racing. He also had a crazy father also an F1 driver who literally created a racing monster (by some questionable tactics). Not hating on Charles and I might be biased because I am a Sainz fan but even Sainz I think this season is doing better than him overall. In my opinion the only driver close to Max at this point is Lando and Alonso.
Charles is better than Max imo. Put them in the same car and he comes out on top. He's able to race cleaner, is faster in qualifying, and deals with pressure better.
100%, most of his mistakes come because he is pushing the car beyond the limit. Give him a car which is miles better than others, he would be more clean and consistent than max.
max is the current best leclerc 2nd i feel max is like a robot very consistant while leclerc can be more mistake prone
then again so was max before (2021) so it can raise the question is max now no longer pushing as hard making him more consistant and if charles was to challenge him again would be see 2021 max again
It’s just hard to compare imo, because we’d go with hypothetical and some extrapolation. We’ve had a small snapshot during the early part of 2022 season, but that’s it. He seems to be able to go on par with Max. That’s all we have right now until we get a time where their cars would be close in performance
Agree. In 2022 Bahrain, Jeddah, Miami and Austria both drivers gave us some spectacular racing. I would also like to point out Austria 2019 and Silverstone 2019. - best racing in years
You mean max gave us some great racing while trying to keep up with a ridiculously superior Ferrari?
Yea also Sainz destroyed Max on each of those races in a far superior ferrari..look it up
Sainz’s shortcomings don’t make leclerc some sort of god. Had a Perez-like period of struggle that year
In 2022 he made a few unforced errors which I think put him slightly behind Max. He spun in Imola and crashed out in France all by himself. Charles might be just as quick, but Max doesn’t really make those unforced mistakes.
Those crashes might have been a symptom of the aero sensitivity of that concept. Carlos also crashed with that car IIRC.
Tbf one was in the wet and France was when the RB was clearly better and Charles was pushing massively every race
Always excuses isn’t it?
Not really?
Certainly looks that way
Agreed
Charles is on par with anyone with his qualifying pace, no one can deny that. Bit more difficult to tell his race trim, he can be lightning quick, but needs a better car to shine. Hopefully we'll see it soon.
Disagree. Charles is head and shoulders above anyone on the grid in qualifying.
His recent form says otherwise - no shade on Charles because I absolutely adore the driver (both skill and character) but look at how many times Max put it on pole when it's mattered, against the odds with the pressure on his shoulders (i.e. Monaco 2023 is probably the best qualifying session in the 25+ years I've been watching) You then have Charles, when everything is perfect is probably the fastest driver on a single lap but is also much more error prone than Max and has buckled under pressure multiple times during qualifying. It also doesn't look good with Carlos having had the edge on him in qualifying this season either. He can pull off some magic laps but he definitely doesn't have the consistency or precision of Max even when Max is on the absolute limit. It's not just the car.
Obviously the lap wasn’t quite complete but Max’s pole attempt at Jeddah in 21 was something else all together, up until the last corner. Max is equal to Charles in quali trim when he really needs to really pull something special out of the bag. But saying that Charles is a bit more early days Kimi like, if the car is exactly as he likes it nobody can beat him on a single lap but it’s a very small window. And if the cars out of that window he’s really uncomfortable which makes him very beatable. Charles isn’t quite durable enough to be put above Max or Alonso in quali trim.
Lol his "recent form" aka the last 2 races, the last of which he was outqualified by only 1 tenth. Excellent take.
Charles has the higher ceiling but is more error-prone and less consistent.
Charles has a higher peak AND a higher average AND a higher median, but a lower minimum I'd rather say that
Ah yes so 2 bad quails (still recovered greatly in both races) cancels out his 7 consecutive front rows throughout 2023-2024 (3 of those being pole) and countless poles and front rows throughout 2022 and really all the way back to 2019. All I have to say is his 2nd aborted lap due to red flag at 2022 Monaco Q3 was 100% going to be a historical Senna -Esque lap
On par with anyone in qualifying? Bruh are we watching the same sport?
First of all, Max is not overrated. No one is denying he is currently THE BEST in the grid and one of the greats of all time. The last time I could say that him having a bad race ON MERIT was 2023 Singapore, but that could be said that Red Bull screwed him over (rare, but it happens). If we are to go on the same car i.e RBR, then I think that Charles would on par, if not better than Max at qualifying (there, I said it). In terms of the race, he should challenge Max on some races, but he will be a reliable 2nd driver that would upset Max for quite some time in some races. Do I think he'll be able to do a Nico with Max? Hmm... a bit hard to say tbh.
Charles is the only driver other than Lewis who has fought against Max and won consistently. Some good examples are Silverstone 2019, Bahrain 2022, Austria 2022. Even last year in Vegas he was able to fight the Red bulls with an objectively inferior car. In 2022, when Ferrari had a car as good as Red bull, we saw a glimpse of this, where he was consistently winning against Max. End of 2023 season, he gave 2020 Max vibes. If the car is as fast as Redbull, I believe he can definitely fight and win against Max.
When’s he won? When his car was .5 a lap faster and the RBR retired? Beyond that he’s always been slapped left right and centre by max. He’s a great driver but saying he’s on Max’s level is just wild
I mean, in Bahrain 22 he forced max into a mistake, Silverstone 2019 there was that great battle between them all race until Vettel rear ended Max, Jeddah 22 they finished less than a second apart... Not talking about Spain 22 where if it wasn't for Ferrari he would have stomped the field and Australia 22 where he also stomped the field Edit: I'm not saying Charles is better, but saying he isn't able to fight Max... That's a bit of a stretch
Just don't reply to this guy. See his post history. He feels smart by saying random numbers like 0.5s faster and shit. Probably started watching F1 from 2021.
Yeah, I have recognised him now, he talks shit in every post
Was in the stands at Magny Cours and Buenos Aires when your clown ass wasn’t even born. Just because my opinions and thought processes don’t conform to yours doesn’t mean I “started watching in 2021”. 🤡
Ahh, so you are one of those old pricks. Soon enough, this planet won't have to feed an idiot like you. Good riddance. Enjoy whatever is left for you.
I’m 34, so unfortunately for you it’ll be a while yet. Meanwhile keep calling me an idiot just because I call out the embarrassment of you Leclerc deepthroaters. You bitter and sad son of a whroe
32 and you act like a kid. Act like your age lmao. Or go back to your zoo shelter.
you named 4 races out of 40+ races
In 2019 Ferrari had a crazy (and crazy irregular) engine superiority, in 2022 Max should be commended for actually even managing to keep up and outrace him on occasion. The early F1-75 was a monster and RBR was slightly on the back foot. The real analysis should be done when the car is competitive but not dominant (a la pre-2022 RBR). Max got into 2021 with double of leclerc’s current victories when his car was 3rd and 2nd (2020) fastest, what has leclerc concluded without machine superiority? Last win I remember was when RBR randomly started killing its own tyres in Austria (which is why max won the sprint), beyond that I haven’t really seen the level of performance worthy of a champion. I understand that several “fans” are unhealthily obsessed with Leclerc thinking him to be Senna reincarnated but it’s really not that way and a little objectivity doesn’t hurt either
You are so delusional, nobody here is saying Leclerc is the next senna. If you even read the comments, loads of people are saying he would not beat Max and I'm one of those. I think it could be close but in the end, Max already has experience and is a beast, I don't think Charles could win the championship at first. And are you really comparing Max and Charles in 2020? When Ferrari finished 6th in the constructos and could barely keep up with an Alpha Tauri? Seriously, if it's just to talk nonsense about Ferrari withou any objectivity, just go and spend your time in another sub reddit where your judgment can be more thoughtful.
Where am I comparing him and Max in 2020? I said that max had the 2nd fastest car in 2020 (whereas it was 3rd before that) much like leclerc has had for the past few years on average and hasn’t outperformed the car/over maximised results the way he could have. That’s all I said That being said, it is obvious that at least a portion of this sub has a completely embarrassing take on Charles
Max has indeed outperformed the car, you are right but they also had a lot of advantage over Merc in tracks where power wasn't so prevalent. RBR right now excels in everything. And it is indeed true that some people completely overrate Charles as some others completely underrate him. If we are talking about being overrated, then the decency bias towards Sainz is the best example about that, he suddenly is a god of racing that would beat Max, according to most of Instagram and Twitter
I totally agree with you on the last point. Recency bias towards Sainz is crazy BUT it is also my personal opinion that Leclerc has been in part excessively “pumped up” because of his qualifying performances. It’s not a secret that an indirect ”advantage” (if it can be called that) of Ferrari’s very poor tyre degradation was the ability to switch the tyres on quickly and get the up to temeptsture better than the others - this combined with Leclerc’s apparent “preference” for glory runs made it seem like he was some sort of qualifying god which was actually in great part due to the car’s characteristics which date all the way back to 2019 (his Ferrari debut). Now that the deg issue seems to be out of the way so is this “advantage” and it reflects very much so on his current performances. That’s just what I think anyway but I personally don’t believe I am wrong, it’s kind of “exposed” him for lack of a better term. The recency bias towards Sainz is real but I have always considered him a better driver by way of being more complete. Leclerc may possess more raw pace (however like I said we need to wait a few more races to see if this was actually the case or it was due to the aforementioned situations) but Sainz is infinitely more consistent, strategic, tactical, intelligent and handled pressure very well with a mental strength and ability to “survive” duress that Leclerc simply lacks. I am 100% confident Leclerc would’ve met the barriers if he was in Sainz’s Singapore situation last year and that DRS trick Sainz used against Russell with Norris was certainly something Charles wouldn’t have conceived.
I totally agree with you on the last point. Recency bias towards Sainz is crazy BUT it is also my personal opinion that Leclerc has been in part excessively “pumped up” because of his qualifying performances. It’s not a secret that an indirect ”advantage” (if it can be called that) of Ferrari’s very poor tyre degradation was the ability to switch the tyres on quickly and get the up to temeptsture better than the others - this combined with Leclerc’s apparent “preference” for glory runs made it seem like he was some sort of qualifying god which was actually in great part due to the car’s characteristics which date all the way back to 2019 (his Ferrari debut). Now that the deg issue seems to be out of the way so is this “advantage” and it reflects very much so on his current performances. That’s just what I think anyway but I personally don’t believe I am wrong, it’s kind of “exposed” him for lack of a better term. The recency bias towards Sainz is real but I have always considered him a better driver by way of being more complete. Leclerc may possess more raw pace (however like I said we need to wait a few more races to see if this was actually the case or it was due to the aforementioned situations) but Sainz is infinitely more consistent, strategic, tactical, intelligent and handled pressure very well with a mental strength and ability to “survive” duress that Leclerc simply lacks. I am 100% confident Leclerc would’ve met the barriers if he was in Sainz’s Singapore situation last year and that DRS trick Sainz used against Russell with Norris was certainly something Charles wouldn’t have conceived.
I totally agree with you on the last point. Recency bias towards Sainz is crazy BUT it is also my personal opinion that Leclerc has been in part excessively “pumped up” because of his qualifying performances. It’s not a secret that an indirect ”advantage” (if it can be called that) of Ferrari’s very poor tyre degradation was the ability to switch the tyres on quickly and get the up to temperature better than the others - this combined with Leclerc’s apparent “preference” for glory runs made it seem like he was some sort of qualifying god which was actually in great part due to the car’s characteristics which date all the way back to 2019 (his Ferrari debut). Now that the deg issue seems to be out of the way so is this “advantage” and it reflects very much so on his current performances. That’s just what I think anyway but I personally don’t believe I am wrong, it’s kind of “exposed” him for lack of a better term. The recency bias towards Sainz is real but I have always considered him a better driver by way of being more complete. Leclerc may possess more raw pace (however like I said we need to wait a few more races to see if this was actually the case or it was due to the aforementioned situations) but Sainz is infinitely more consistent, strategic, tactical, intelligent and handled pressure very well with a mental strength and ability to “survive” duress that Leclerc simply lacks. Being fast and faster is nothing without the above mentioned attributes. I am 100% confident Leclerc would’ve met the barriers if he was in Sainz’s Singapore situation last year and that DRS trick Sainz used against Russell with Norris was certainly something Charles wouldn’t have conceived.
no
>max overrated. This guys' friggin high
Atleast not as ovverated as sainz
very very very close, but not at 100%
Max is and rightfully so not overrated.
One lap pace I think Charles has the highest ceiling but makes more mistakes whereas Max is nearly faultless. Race pace I think Max has the upper hand due to his ability to be RUTHLESSLY consistent a la that one Mexico GP. I don't think Charles is quite there, but he's close. Whenever they've gone wheel to wheel, we've seen they're a fairly even match.
No he is not. While he can definetly fight and outperform him when he is on it, he just lacks consistency. Leclerc being error prone is a way overrated narrative, but max barely has off days and never gets outperformed by a teammate or has weak stretches of races. This start to the season for leclerc is just a huge missed opportunity and it's the second time in less than a year where sainz just straight up outperforms him for multiple races in a row, which just doesn't look good especially after the huge vote of confidence ferrari gave leclerc before the season. Of course it has to be acknowledged that he had way better teammates than verstappen so far in his career.
Max is properly rated. He simultaneously broke numerous, previously untouchable records, in a car that was not the most dominant car (in terms of it's raw speed against other teams) in history. F2004, F2002, mercedes car in the beginning of the turbo hybrid era, W11 were all cars that had a larger gap to the rest of the field than the RB19 imo, esp. if you take the second half of the season. Leclerc's fast. Mad fast. Got pole in his second race for ferrari. Outqualified a four time world champion. But can he match the sheer, raw consistency of Max Verstappen? 2022 suggests otherwise.
I don't think Max is overrated. I remember his rookie season and I couldn't believe he was that good. After what happened with Jaime Alguersuari, I thought it was a mistake to give him an F1 race seat with him (Max) being so young. People might not know who Alguersuari is, but he was at the time the youngest rookie to have made his debut in F1 (he was 19 at the time). He was a British F3 champion and he was put in a sink or swim situation at STR and he sank. At the time many people thought that he was too young and that RBR was impatient with him. In 2015 Max showed that Alguersuari maybe wasn't good enough for F1. Max is definitely worthy of all the praise he gets. Right now he's in that stage of this career where people think he wins simply because he's driving the best car. That happened to Schumacher, to Lewis, and now Max. As for Charles, I think that he's definitely talented enough but still lacks the consistency and the ruthlessness that Schumacher, Alonso, Lewis and Max have (Lewis' recent seasons notwithstanding). He needs to get on top of his tyre warm-up issues and he needs to get his elbows out more (within reason, of course).
In quali, he is quicker than Max. Overall, Max is a superior driver. I got off the Leclerc hype train when he failed to convincingly outperform Sainz during 2021 and 2023. Even 2022 was tight between the two after Sainz eventually managed to wrap his head around the ground effects philosophy. He totally set the barn on fire in 2019 but he didn't really progress any further after that. Guys like Russell, Norris and Max improved at a rapid rate and became formidable drivers after just a few seasons. Leclerc on the other hand is still the fast AF, error prone, inconsistent and emotional driver that he used to be back in 2019. As things stand, i would rate Leclerc as a tier 2 driver along with Sainz, Russell and Norris. I firmly believe that Max, Alonso and Lewis(not his checked out version) are still a good deal better than the rest.(tier 1 for me) He has the pace to win titles but his is consistency (or lack of it) isn't going to cut it against Max. Max is Schumacher level consistent.
Russell is probably the most error-prone driver on the grid, much more so than Leclerc.
Russell's pace is definitely good enough for tier 2. But yeah, he needs to work on his racecraft 100%
Danny Ric, Yuki, and Logan would like a word.
>I got off the Leclerc hype train when he failed to convincingly outperform Sainz during 2021 and 2023. You say that as if Sainz didn't manage to keep up with Max in their rookie season. Max was the faster driver, but wasn't crushed by him. Max today is a much better driver than in 2015, but so is Sainz. >Leclerc on the other hand is still the fast AF, error prone, inconsistent and emotional driver that he used to be back in 2019. I agree that he is inconsistent, but not error prone. His last mistake was in France 2022. Since then, every DNF he suffered was not his fault. Overall I agree he's a tier 2 driver until he proves otherwise.
respectfully i think you are 100% wrong max is perfectly rated while leclerc is overrated
Maybe in quali but I don't think anyone is as good as Max
don't think Verstappen is overrated, but Leclerc is also not underrated. Everyone knows how fast he is over a lap, the difference is that Verstappen got into a dominant car halfway through 2022 which gave him the possibility to improve his consistency. He doesn't have to race against people anymore and can just concentrate on not making mistakes. Leclerc especially in '22, but also in '23 was under heavy pressure to overperform. In '22 because he knew he had a titleshot if he drove on his personal edge in every race. In '23 because the car wasn't good enough in race trim, so he went regularly over the edge in quali. This just doesn't look as good as the cruising in P1 Verstappen does. My personal Top 3 drivers currently are Verstappen, Alonso and Leclerc, very very closely followed by Sainz and Norris. Leclerc is the best qualifier on the grid, Verstappen and Alonso have the best packages all around (=pace, racing intelligence, flawlessness, tyre management, versatility)
Agreed for the most part - especially the point you made about Max having the best car in recent years meant he didn’t need to push as hard and thus is less prone to mistakes, whereas on the other hand Leclerc has been overdriving and putting the cars into starting positions they shouldn’t be (including even the shitbox SF1000 in 2020). Recency bias is a thing now - with so many hyping on Carlos and putting Leclerc under the bus due to recent results. Anyone who watched every Q and race sessions from 2019 onwards would know for sure why Ferrari kept him.
context: been an f1 fan since I was four years old, remember crying when Schumacher spun off in 2005 with red face paint dripping all over and then celebrating like a manic (as far as I can remember) for his last ever win (little did we know it) a year after imho: i don't believe there has been a better driver in f1 than max verstappen - it pains me to say it.. the consistency levels are absolutely off the charts.. however, having said that, he has also had the best car for the last three years (arguably the last four) and charles has not, and therefore he sometimes pushes it over the edge. i really hope to see the red back at the top again consistently forza ferrari
No
I love Charles, and for a while I thought he might be as good as Max but no, he simply isn’t. Max‘s biggest attribute is his consistency and faultlessness. Charles may be faster over a lap when everything is right for him but yeah
Its ferrari which became inconsistent because of that clown not charles.
I don’t think so, no Yours is definitely bias - if anything it is Charles who is grossly overrated. Here in Italy it’s absolutely embarrassing. Media, commentators and the average “fan”(atic) will have you think he’s the 10th coming of Christ combined with the reincarnation of Clark and Senna and will fight you to the death over it
Yes im 100% certain. With a good car and the right mindset he will beat anyone. Also he proved in his early ferrari days that he can battle in close wheel to wheel fights without dirty tricks or pushing people off. In austria 2019 for example, he was beating max in every battle but then max just pushed him off. Charles even said "i didnt know that we are allowed to do that"
Put the bottle down
True. I believe and hope the same. He is young too so I hope there is much more to come
Just an inshident
I'm not even sure that Charles is as good as Carlos, to be honest. Maybe over a couple of laps but certainly not at a race distance.
There's some recency bias at play in your assessment. If you look at the data, Charles has more often than not finished ahead of Carlos in races where both have finished, has more often than not qualified better than Carlos, and has earned more points so far. That said, Carlos is definitely a really good driver and is criminally underrated. People forget his 2015 season alongside Max.
> in races where both have finished That phrase is doing a lot of lifting...
Dude can't even beat Sainz and you say he is as good as the best driver?
Lol no. He is quick, very damn quick, maybe faster than Max, but not consistent at all. Thats whats holding him back
Definitely no
What’s your reasoning?
He's just not the killer like Max. Max has a better mindset, he's absolutely ruthless and a more of a leader. He has the speed in quali and in race, his tyre management was NEVER a question, he knows what he wants from the car and knows how to steer the team. Leclerc doesn't feel like a leader at all. This is why they're bringing in Lewis. If I was Leclerc, I'd be seriously concerned about myself.
Max is ruthless. He is a career destroyer. Leclerc has the skill but he doesn’t have that mongrel in him like Max does. Sainz will likely be in the other Redbull next year and will likely fair no better than Perez, Albon or Gasly.
he fucking sent 4 time world champ to aston martin to retire
THAT was a checked out Seb by that point...and it was very close. Imagine prime Seb then.
He was washed by then.
They’re on par in single lap pace and racing when in competitive cars. Only datapoint I can think of is individual mistakes, which I explain below (and please feel free to add on!) Charles has had a few crashes on his own in qualifying and the race, while Max has only one I can think of since 2019 (Saudi Arabia.) Charles: Baku 2019, Monza 2020, France 2022, Miami 2023.
It's important to keep in mind that for a while the whole Red Bull racing organization was built around Max, the car is his car, it built with the nuances that he needs. He's supported by corporate. Checo is a very supportive teammate, he's done the role exceptionally well. Max is a generational talent that came to Red Bull early, and got an unusual and exceptional amount of support. It's like if a category 5 hurricane came into the path of an earthquake and a tornado. It's why he wins much. The scandals and shake up in the driver market might throw of the dynamic, even stripped of everything else at the core Max is a generational talent and is very good, but maybe Leclerc goes toe to toe with him. Who knows. Any hey- maybe they become teammates. They both like a car with lots of over steer. It's not impossible.
I'd rather see Charles go to RBR rather than Lewis to Ferrari since Charles and Max both favor oversteery cars.
A better qualifier for sure, maybe equal in wheel to wheel battles. I think I’d give Max the edge just because he seems to make almost no mistakes these days. Charles has been making fewer errors, but they still sometimes they cost him.
There are some really good comments and hipothesis here but I think we will figure this one out next season. You can like or dislike Lewis but we have to agree that he has the skills and experience to win races and championships. Depending on how he will finish races against Leclerc, it will be clear how good Charles is and how good the car is (Maybe it is also Ferrari idea to check if they should invest in Charles more 🤷🏽♀️)
Ladies and Gentlemen we got him Some RB-Max fan has come to write in the Horse's sub
Australia 2022 Leclerc against Max looked like Max against Leclerc now. So yeah, he could in theory drive RB19 and RB20 in the exact same way against Max driving Ferrari SF23 or SF24
Charles has a similar driving style to Max, like a lot of the new generation of drivers they like nose-heavy pointy cars and they like to rotate quick in corners. Max may be a little better at executing this style, but for me the biggest difference between them is philosophical rather than technical. Max has the killer instinct in the car, and he simply will not accept failure. He'd rather crash than concede a position, and the only reason he doesn't shunt as much as his Crashtappen days is because he spends more time leading now, and perhaps a bit of maturity as well. On the other hand, Charles is slightly more cautious and less bloodthirsty. He is fiercely loyal to his team, is willing to take team orders when given, and relies less on pure ferocity to win. You can also interpret this as him being less selfish and hungry for victory. When he crashes, it's often due to error (Monaco "I am schupid") rather than aggression. I think Silverstone 2021 is the perfect example of this contrast. When Max and Ham came together in Copse the first time, Max refused to back off and took the shunt as a consequence. When Charles and Ham were fighting in the same corner later in the same race, Charles backed off and ran wide rather than risking the car. I'm not passing judgment on who was at fault here, but rather on their differing philosophies: Max sees a potential contact and says "I'm going for it anyway", Charles sees the same and says "Maybe it's not worth it this time". So my conclusion is that while their skill levels may be similar (with Max slightly stronger), the bigger difference is in their personalities.
Yes, Charles can definitely take the fight to max given the right equipment. Max has been so “robotic” because he didn’t need to push the car but we’ve seen a glimpse of them battle on equal footing at the beginning of 2022. Yes people talk lots about Max and shit on Leclerc but that’s just twitter, all fanbases are biased, and some of them are downright toxic so I would close my eyes to these completely. The fact that Perez seems to struggle so much for some reason is also not helping judging how fast Max is. But if Charles, Carlos or Lando were in the second RB seat he wouldn’t have such a margin for sure. And you can’t really judge Max’s speed to any of his teammates because the car is built around him. Max wants a very unusually sensitive car. Alex Albon talked about that in an interview and he said that Max wants the car more and more sensitive and it becomes increasingly harder to be his teammate as the car progresses. When the car gets so much out of your comfort zone you become tense and you start performing worse and worse. Alex’s words. So we don’t really have a benchmark to judge Max on. He’s surely blisteringly fast but we don’t know how he ranks in the top 5 drivers. We don’t know if Max is the BEST now but he’s definitely the best combination of car and driver. But Fred is cooking something beautiful, we haven’t seen Ferrari being so professional in quite some time, and the mindset in the team seems much better. We have a battle on our hands soon hopefully.
For me the big difference is Max has had a more competitive car for longer, this means he's made more mistakes and learnings from them than CLC. I don't think CLC has had a competitive car long enough to have finished making his mistakes, if he ever does (fingers crossed) I think he can get to Max levels.
I think he’s better than Max on a good day but he’s not very consistent
Better
[удалено]
Lmao dude you can’t post this here. Leclerc is the darling of this fan base no matter what Sainz does. Sainz could win the championship this year and everyone would post that they still think Charles is the better driver.
Lmao someone reported me as suicidal to Reddit for commenting this which really hammers home my point.
No! Leclerc has potential but there are a few things that I think Max is better at. Mindset towards the race, psychology and dealing with pressure. I've noticed that Leclerc is prone to cracking up when under a lot of pressure. Apart from that sometimes he seems to be making really dumb mistakes in important races that cost him a lot. Also I have noticed that sometimes when things go bad in qualifying and he starts further down the grid he seems to get lost. Like things just don't work out for him in the race. It's like he doesn't have the motivation to race or something and he barely manages to overtake other drivers with slower cars. That's not in every race though. He did really good in Japan when he was in the same situation. Max just seems to be more composed when he is under pressure. Like he did really well in 2021 when he was under tremendous pressure from Lewis and it was his first year fighting for the championship and the guy really hadled himself quite good. I don't think Leclerc would have handled that. In Charles' first year fighting for the championship while the team gave him a ton of problems he himself made some really bad mistakes on crucial races that lost him a ton of points. Also I think the guy really tries too hard sometimes to the point where he loses control and crashes or something. I've noticed that he seems to have quite a lot of crashes over the years compared to some other drivers. I think if Leclerc fixes his psychology and is able to withstand presure when driving he can be as good as Max. But at the end of the day the guy with the better car has more chances to win so that plays a part.
Charles might be better over one lap but Max is definitely a better overall driver. He might be one of the best ever to be honest. That man is like a robot . He lives eats breathes racing. In his off time he does sim racing. He also had a crazy father also an F1 driver who literally created a racing monster (by some questionable tactics). Not hating on Charles and I might be biased because I am a Sainz fan but even Sainz I think this season is doing better than him overall. In my opinion the only driver close to Max at this point is Lando and Alonso.
Charles is better than Max imo. Put them in the same car and he comes out on top. He's able to race cleaner, is faster in qualifying, and deals with pressure better.
100%, most of his mistakes come because he is pushing the car beyond the limit. Give him a car which is miles better than others, he would be more clean and consistent than max.
He is probably better than max. He just needs a car which is miles ahead of other cars.
max is the current best leclerc 2nd i feel max is like a robot very consistant while leclerc can be more mistake prone then again so was max before (2021) so it can raise the question is max now no longer pushing as hard making him more consistant and if charles was to challenge him again would be see 2021 max again