Max Verstappen has emerged as the dominant driver among the younger generation as he has already won two world championships at the age of just 25. While other young drivers such as Charles Leclerc have also delivered some strong performances, they have been nowhere close to how the Dutchman has performed.
Piero Ferrari, who is the son of the company’s founder, Enzo Ferrari, has also noted the same difference. In a recent interview, the 77-year-old explained that while Leclerc has immense potential, he has not been able to live up to it so far as Verstappen has done.
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Piero believes that there is a significant difference in the performance levels of both drivers because of their experience in the sport. Even though both drivers are currently 25 and were extremely competitive against each other during their karting days, Verstappen made his debut in F1 in 2015 while Leclerc only made his debut three years after.
‘At the peak of his career‘: Piero Ferrari on Max Verstappen
In an interview with Autosprint, Piero Ferrari heaped praise on Max Verstappen for achieving so much, despite being at the age of just 25. After stating that he was present in Barcelona when Verstappen won his debut race, Piero praised him further by adding, “He is still young, but he already has a lot of experience. He’s a great driver who’s at the peak of his career“.
Max Verstappen wrote himself into the history books #OnThisDay in 2016, becoming the youngest race winner of all time 🤩
And what a career he has had since that @redbullracing debut! 🏆#F1 @Max33Verstappen pic.twitter.com/LhHyCQ8mtW
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 15, 2023
He then went on to comment upon Charles Leclerc by stating that while the Monegasque has incredible potential, he still lacks the experience that Verstappen has already gained. “Charles has the necessary speed to match Verstappen. However, he has less experience if you look at the number of Grand Prix participations. Leclerc can still grow. He will still grow,” explained Piero.
Charles Leclerc is a man with immense potential but has little to show for it
Even though few can argue that Charles Leclerc is one of the best drivers on the current grid, the Monegasque yet has little to show for it when it comes to wins. The 25-year-old has already entered his fifth season with Ferrari this year and has so far just managed five wins.
While most of the disappointment that Leclerc has faced during his time with Ferrari is because of the lack of pace that the car has had, he too has made several mistakes. The Monegasque himself has taken the blame on several occasions when he has made errors and some of these mistakes have been extremely costly.
The last notable costly mistake that Leclerc made was at this year’s Miami Grand Prix when he just managed to qualify seventh on the grid after crashing into the wall. The Ferrari driver said that he made this mistake while attempting to push harder than usual because his team did not have the race pace to compete with the Red Bulls.
