Charles Leclerc's post-race comments summed up how fans feel about exciting start to F1 season

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has summed up how F1 fans feel about the new season with him saying how exciting the Saudi Arabian GP was despite him finishing second.

The closing stages of the race in Jeddah set us up for Charles v Max round two and it was Verstappen that ran out the victor this time, with him pulling off an overtake in the final laps and then holding the lead for the last tours of the circuit.

Indeed, it was another exciting battle between the two drivers after what we saw in Bahrain and Leclerc clearly enjoyed it as much as onlooking fans, even if he was the one to come out second best on this occasion.

“Oh my god! It was not enough today. I really enjoyed that race,” he said after the chequered flag.

“It’s hard racing but fair. Every race should be like this. It was fun, I’m of course disappointed, we wanted to win today.

“We had two very different configurations with the Red Bulls. We were quite quick in the corner, but slow in straights. It was extremely difficult for me to cover Max in the straight. Max did a great job, it was a fun race.

Leclerc was then asked about the respect he had for Max:

“It’s always been there, especially when you finish a race like this. We’re on a street track, we’ve been pushing like I’ve rarely pushed before to the absolute limit, and we take risks at the end, so of course there is respect.”

These two drivers are already setting themselves up for a title fight this season, with Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz surely eager to get into the battle as soon as possible.

It’s great seeing a new rivalry emerge in the sport, though, and both will be eager to get one up on the other come the Australian Grand Prix in just under a fortnight from now.