Max Verstappen acknowledges ‘big task’ to beat Charles Leclerc to F1 title after ‘terrible race’

Max Verstappen realises what a “big task” it will be to overturn Charles Leclerc’s lead in the Formula 1 driver standings.

The Ferrari driver is 46 points ahead of the defending champion after Verstappen was forced to retire from two of the three opening races due a faults on his car. He did win the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix but his efforts only see him in sixth in the world title race.

“We are already so far down in the championship that from now onwards basically you first need to be faster than them (Ferrari), which we’re not, and zero problems with the car which we also don’t have,” Verstappen said, as reported by the Express.

“So it’s going to be a big task. It was just a terrible race, just no pace. I couldn’t push because the tyres were just getting destroyed.”

And while Verstappen has been hyper critical of the car this season, Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner believes the issues are fixable. But it’s not just Verstappen who has had trouble with his teammate Sergio Perez retiring from the Bahrain race.

“I’d rather fix a fast car than try to make a reliable and slow one fast,” Horner told The Race. “None of them [the issues] have been related, so obviously need to understand those and address them quickly.

“Even on a day when we weren’t as quick as Ferrari, we had a guaranteed second place in the first two races. With Max we’ve given up 36 points for the team, and for the team [overall] 50 points.

“When you look at that, both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championship would be a lot different. There’s still a huge percentage of the championship to run but we need to get on top of the issues quickly.”