Leclerc hopes mistake won't cost him as Verstappen closes in

Charles Leclerc is hoping he won't be looking back at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix as the weekend where he lost the Formula One title.

A dominant victory from Max Verstappen on Sunday saw the reigning F1 champion almost halve the gap in the standings to Leclerc, who is the early leader after winning two of the other three races.

Leclerc could have minimized his losses but a rare mistake from the Ferrari driver cost him a chance for third place — behind Verstappen and Red Bull teammate Sergio Pérez — and meant he ended up sixth.

“I was too greedy and I paid the price for it and lost seven potential points,” Leclerc said. “It is a shame, it is seven points that are valuable at the end of the championship for sure and this shouldn’t happen again.”

Verstappen also won the sprint race to pick up maximum points at Imola and cut his gap to Leclerc from 46 points to 27.

More ominously for Ferrari, the Red Bulls looked very fast indeed after making several upgrades going into the weekend in Italy.

“Only time will tell how much of a step they did but for sure they seem to be more competitive than the first three races, or similar to Jeddah,” Leclerc said. “We’ve had the upper hand in Bahrain and Australia, and they’ve had the upper hand in this weekend and in Jeddah.

“It is very, very close, and I think it will be that way for the rest of the season and that is why every small mistake … it’s a big mistake but actually the consequence considering the mistake could have been much bigger.”

Red Bull’s first one-two since 2016 was a big statement of intent from the team, especially after a frustrating start to the season. Verstappen had two DNFs in the opening three races, while Pérez also failed to finish the season opener.

“It’s