The Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), winner two Sundays in Austria, will try to confirm that he is ready to fight for the title at the French Grand Prix, the twelfth of the Formula One World Championship, which will be held this weekend at the Circuit Paul Ricard of Le Castellet; where he will have to cut points from the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), the clear leader of the championship.
Leclerc, 24, relegated Verstappen -of the same age- to second place at his team’s circuit, where seven-time English world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) seemed to straighten the course somewhat with his third consecutive podium finish.
He did it at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, in which the Mexican Sergio Pérez, a companion from ‘Mad Max’, and the Spanish Carlos Sainz – a colleague of the Monegasque – left with the engine of his Ferrari on fire and when he was aiming for the second square-; in a race in which the other Spaniard, Fernando Alonso (Alpine), was also a victim of misfortune before finishing tenth.
Regardless of what happens in the Paul Ricard, Verstappen, winner in Austria of the sprint test that decided the qualification – which also distributed points, among the top eight – will start out as leader of France.
The Dutchman leads the championship with 208 points, 38 more than Leclerc, who took second place overall from ‘Checo’, now third, with 151 units.
Sainz, who had just achieved his first victory in F1 at Silverstone (England), by scoring the British Grand Prix -one day after signing his first pole position in the premier class-, could not maintain his winning streak; but the fourth place in the championship, which he occupies with 133 points.
Leclerc, who signed his third victory of the year in Styria, will have to try to cut as much as he can – if Ferrari does not experience new reliability problems – the advantage that the new sporting idol from the Netherlands has; that he also leads, along with ‘Checo’, the Constructors’ World Cup. With 359 points, 56 more than the ‘Scuderia’; and with 122 over Mercedes, winner of the last eight team titles and which, still far from what it was in past seasons, seems to be gradually recovering its rhythm.
After the World Championship crossed its halfway point on the beautiful Austrian track, the second half of a contest scheduled for 22 races begins in France, which will end on November 20 in Abu Dhabi; and that he will play the last test before the holiday break next weekend at the Hungaroring, on the outskirts of Budapest, home of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Paul Ricard is a 5,842 meter track, with long straights and 15 curves -nine to the right and six to the left-, some very technical and high-speed, and with two DRS zones, before the first and the eighth ; to which next Sunday it is planned to give 53 laps to complete a route of 309.6 kilometers.
