Charles Leclerc says it is good for him if Max Verstappen remains as aggressive as possible against Lando Norris to aid his own championship chances.
Verstappen was given two time penalties for incidents with Norris in Mexico City, following a penalty for Norris for overtaking Verstappen off track in Austin. Leclerc is 71 points adrift of the championship leader but only 24 behind Norris and says a risk of incidents between the two increases his chances of at least overhauling the McLaren.
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“I welcome Max being as aggressive to Lando as possible because it helps me – at least it gives me chances to be closer to Lando in the drivers’ championship because it’s still a fight,” Leclerc said. “If anything, it’s more a fight, Lando and myself, than with Max that has quite a lot of advantages in points.
“On my side, I don’t think about the drivers’ championship, realistically. I think first the approach is not to start thinking about the drivers’ championship. That doesn’t help me achieve anything more. It’s by focusing race by race. And more than that, I just feel like it’s not in my control whether I win the drivers’ championship.
“Of course, there’s part of it that is in my control, and if I win all races, that puts most of the chances on my side. But even if I do that, I’ve got to have Max have very poor weekends and I don’t rely on that, so I’ll just try and do the best possible end of the season, and then we’ll do the math at the end of the season.”
With Ferrari having overtaken Red Bull in Mexico and now just 29 points behind McLaren in the constructors’ standings, Leclerc says that’s an ever-more realistic title for the team to win.
“Of course it has to be our target, because we don’t have to think about it every day. And I think the best way to achieve it is by just focusing on our own self and trying to maximize the package of our car, which is what we have done since two weekends.
“The constructors’ now is realistically possible. And it relies on us doing well more than others doing something wrong, which I’ve often said is probably the case for the drivers’ championship.
“For the drivers’ championship I need to do everything right and I need a lot of bad luck to happen elsewhere. So the constructors’ is definitely our main target and if we continue in that form it’s a realistic one.”