Charles Leclerc has expressed skepticism over Max Verstappen’s suggestion that he could have secured the 2024 Formula 1 world championship driving for Ferrari or McLaren. Verstappen, who clinched his fourth title after dominating the early part of the season, made the claim despite a drop in form, having won only one of the last 12 races following seven victories in the first ten.
The Dutch driver pointed to the success of McLaren and Ferrari, each having won five races this season, and remarked that he would have been “further ahead” in the MCL38, and added that the Ferrari would have provided similar results. He dismissed Mercedes as too much of a challenge, however.
Leclerc, when asked about Verstappen’s assertion, was less convinced. The Ferrari driver acknowledged Verstappen’s remarkable talent and confidence but questioned the validity of his claim without firsthand experience of the rival cars.
“It’s very difficult to say something like that not knowing actually what the car is like,” Leclerc told the media, including RacingNews365. While recognizing Verstappen’s extraordinary abilities, he remained uncertain whether the results would have been the same in a different car, emphasizing the difficulty of making such claims without knowing the true performance of the other teams’ vehicles.
