ESPN F1’s Nate Saunders is responding to Haas’ confirmation of his team keeping Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg until 2024. (1:23)
ZANDVOORT, Netherlands (AP) — Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc doubts a Formula 1 team can catch up with Red Bull before the next first regulation in 2026.
Leclerc’s closest rival Max Verstappen last year when F1 introduced the existing set of regulations aimed at improving overtaking.
But halfway through the 2022 season, Red Bull began to dominate each and every race weekend and has since won 21 of the last 22 Grands Prix, adding up to 12 this year.
Leclerc, who has slipped to fifth in the drivers’ standings this year amid Ferrari’s lingering problems, believes Red Bull can be untouchable for two seasons.
“Of course, they have a very large margin and it will be very difficult to reach them before the rule change,” he said on Thursday.
Lewis Hamilton, who has won six titles with Mercedes’ dominance of the game under the last two regulations, also believes Red Bull is well positioned to continue its dominance.
“The fact is that they are ahead and have the maximum probably already evolved next year’s car a month before the others, because they are a hundred or two hundred things ahead in the championship,” he said.
“So it’s very conceivable that Charles is right, but we’re running down a steep slope looking to widen and close the gap. Whether or not we achieve it next year will be proof of that, I hope we can do it. “
However, Leclerc does not believe Red Bull’s dominance is as excessive as Mercedes’ good fortune between 2014 and 2020, and says Ferrari is aiming for innovations to close the gap in terms of race performance.
“I think it’s a thing of the past,” Leclerc added. In the standings we are much closer than we have noticed in the past.
“Normally when we see a team dominate it is in qualifying and in the race, now an explanation of why with Red Bull it is much more in the race than in qualifying.
“The differences are much bigger in the race than in qualifying. That’s why we are all running at our race speed because Red Bull is ahead. There is still a lot of work to do. “
“We have some progress in the upcoming races that can allow us to take a step forward, but also with this car we can have unforeseen surprises because they are such delicate cars that a small replacement can have a big impact. And I hope that’s the case. ” That’s our case. “
If Verstappen wins the Dutch Grand Prix this week, he will equal Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine consecutive F1 wins, but Hamilton believes his former rival could take that record to 18 by the end of the year.
“There’s a big chance I’ll win each and every race. But we can challenge them at some point, whether it’s this weekend or who knows where. And if there are errors or incidents, we will be there to check it out. “to capitalize on them.
“They don’t get there, or he hasn’t, and the team hasn’t this year, I think anyway. So yes. They may win everything. I hope that later this year we will be successful. “Perhaps, there is not much more to say.