Christian Horner makes F1 2022 title prediction between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes the the battle for the 2022 Formula 1 world championship between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc could ‘go all the way’ to the end of the campaign.

The Monegasque leads the Dutchman in the standings after the opening five rounds of the season, with every race so far having been won by one of the two men.

Leclerc is at top spot despite taking two wins compared to Verstappen’s three, with the current world champion beset by reliability issues in Bahrain and Australia which forced him to retire and cost him a likely minimum of 36 points.

The gap is 19 points as things stand, with Verstappen closing in on Leclerc thanks to the upgrades Red Bull has made to its RB18 car, which has rendered it around three tenths quicker per lap than the Ferrari and given it a significant straight line speed advantage.

Red Bull’s machinery is low significantly lighter than it was at the beginning of the campaign thanks to the developments the Milton-Keynes based team has made, but Horner insists that doesn’t make his team favourites as things stand, as believed that the battle between Verstappen and Leclerc could go down to the wire.

‘Look, there is a long, long way to go and it is so tight with Ferrari,’ Horner explained. ‘There has been some great racing. You can see there is a great respect between Charles and Max, they are enjoying racing each other, you can see that. I was rather hoping we weren’t set for another competitive year like last year but it looks like this one could well go all the way as well.’

Ferrari have qualified on pole at the last two races, before Verstappen has been able to overtake Leclerc thanks to the Red Bull’s long-run pace advantage and the fact that is kinder