As the second half of the 2022 F1 season beckons, the championship fight between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc is hotting up. The latest Flat Chat podcast from GP Racing magazine investigates the background of what is an old rivalry renewed: Max and Charles locked horns (and wheels) in karting a decade ago but circumstances have prevented them from going toe-to-toe for a title again until now.
But who will prevail this time around? This isn’t just a battle between Leclerc and Verstappen – it’s a resurgent, and sometimes shaky, Ferrari versus the might of Red Bull. GP Racing editor Ben Anderson and columnist Mark Gallagher join host Stuart Codling to discuss the growing rancour between the two teams and the championship protagonists.
Verstappen vs Leclerc is the cover story of this month’s GP Racing magazine, featuring exclusive insight into these two characters from senior figure who have worked with both of them. You may be surprised to learn which is tipped to lift the trophy at the end of this season.
The panel also considers the plight of the number-two drivers up and down the grid. Sergio Perez now has a new Red Bull contract and won the Monaco Grand Prix – but would he have been allowed to do so if he and Max were running one-two? Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are theoretically equal number ones, but how long will this status be upheld?
Taking a wider view, given Daniel Ricciardo’s struggles at McLaren, would it have been more prudent for him to have remained at Red Bull and picked up scraps from Verstappen’s table rather than taking the course which has now led him to McLaren, where he being shown the way by Lando Norris? Sometimes drivers lack the support systems around them to take a long-term view – something which can’t be said of Verstappen, who has been guided (and often pushed) in the right direction by his uncompromising father, Jos.
The podcast guests also debate the virtues and shortcomings of the media covering grands prix ‘on remote’. There are those who say journalists need to be there to hold the stakeholders to account, and to unpick details that surprise and delight the fans. While that’s true, there’s also an argument to say remote participation benefits F1’s carbon footprint and sometimes elicits better chemistry with drivers.benefits F1’s carbon footprint and sometimes elicits better chemistry with drivers.