The pre-season window gives way to tons of speculation and predictions about what could potentially happen in an F1 season. Before the 2023 season began, Max Verstappen took on the challenge of predicting this year’s top three finishers, and he did a decent job. In first place, the Dutchman put his name, showcasing his confidence in himself and the Red Bull car.
Even before the season began, Verstappen had unwavering faith in the Red Bull car for this season, and when the time came, the pairing proved to be lethal. For second place (clip uploaded on X by Conni), Verstappen took the name of his teammate, Sergio Perez, once again highlighting his faith in RB19’s prowess while also showing confidence in Perez’s skills and experience.
The man responsible for the tricky phase was 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Despite driving a non-competitive car, the 38-year-old kept clawing away Perez’s lead race after race. However, an unfortunate disqualification in Mexico City and a subsequent horror show in Sao Paulo meant Perez would run away with P2. Nonetheless, the Briton secured P3 in the rankings.
Hamilton was not Verstappen’s choice for P3, as he named Charles Leclerc as the taker for the same. But the season was far from optimal for the Monegasque, who had to endure multiple poor calls from his race engineer and errors from his team to find himself sitting in 7th place with just one race left in the season.
Charles Leclerc focusing on the bigger picture
Despite enduring a season filled with botched strategies that cost him a better finish in the driver’s rankings, Leclerc still has faith in Ferrari. With 188 points, Leclerc sits 12 points away from P4, and with 388 points, Ferrari sits four points away from P2 in the constructors’ standings. Given the same, Leclerc cares little about his finishing position and wants to focus only on trying to secure a P2 finish for his team.
Per Leclerc, “Fourth place in the drivers’ (rankings) means nothing. Second in the constructors’, though, is nice.” He addressed the team’s hard work in a tough season and claimed that everyone deserved the result of Scuderia Ferrari finishing second in the constructors’ championship. Heading into the final race of the season with very limited information, Leclerc believes his team will be able to maximize the limited information, like in a sprint weekend, and get the best possible result in Abu Dhabi.
