“Red Bull is a lot better than Ferrari” – Charles Leclerc reveals the moment he realised he had lost the 2022 F1 championship

Charles Leclerc entered the 2022 season with a strong campaign but soon lost the lead in the championship title to Max Verstappen. 

The 2022 season began with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc claiming the victory and igniting the hopes of a championship title among the Tifosi. While the team bagged massive points against its rival in the first few races of the season, it failed to retain the lead.

Leclerc suffered his first DNF of the season at the Spanish GP and lost the P1 in the championship standings to Max Verstappen who has not looked back ever since.

The reigning champion has been on a winning spree by consistently winning from the Monegasque’s pole positions.

With six more races to go, Leclerc looked back at the 2022 season and revealed the moment he realised that he had lost the championship.

Speaking exclusively to RacingNews365, the Ferrari driver said that it took a long time to come to the realisation but Red Bull’s pace at the Belgian GP after the summer break came as a surprise to the Italian team.

“We saw that gap in performance between us and Red Bull at Spa, a gap we had never seen in the first part of the year, so I knew it was going to be very difficult,” Leclerc added.

Also Read: When Charles Leclerc drove flat-out through 130R at 300Km/H with just One hand

Charles Leclerc points out a crucial skill that Ferrari lacks

The Scuderia has come under a lot of fire over its poor strategy calls and plan execution. Inarguably the team has lost crucial points in the championship due to its silly blunders and it has gotten the fans pretty frustrated with the Italian giants.

Some even suggested sacking the team principal Mattia Binotto or making some kind of personnel change in order to not damage their own races.

Leclerc just simply believes that the race day execution of Red Bull is far better than Ferrari; and that the team needs to work on it.

The Monegasque does not think that the performance difference between the two rivals is very big.

Also Read: Mercedes spent 5% more than allocated budget on Lewis Hamilton to beat Ferrari in 2018

What is the Monegasque looking forward to?

A few permutations suggest a mathematical possibility in which Leclerc might still be able to claim the title but realistically it is quite impossible to achieve.

Therefore, Monegasque is looking forward to the end of the season and how he can work with the team to come back with a strong 2023 campaign.

The 24-year-old driver believes that Ferrari is on an upward trend and the team’s rise in this season after the difficult past three years was unpredictable for many.

He pointed out that this is the only season in which he has been consistently able to fight for the podiums and wins.

“We have to take an extra step to really fight for the world title,” he further added.

Also Read: Red Bull said to have committed only a minor breach in $145 Million 2021 budget cap