Charles Leclerc believes Formula 1 must avoid a repeat of the puzzling conclusion to the world championship that happened at the last race in Japan.
Max Verstappen won the Drivers’ Championship when Leclerc picked up a five-second penalty following the race. However, the drivers and their teams initially did not believe Verstappen had done enough to win the championship as they expected a reduced points scale to be used for the shortened race.
After the FIA confirmed it would award full points for the race, Verstappen’s championship victory was confirmed. However, the Red Bull driver didn’t believe it at first.
“It was a bit strange because I think actually the first time they told Max he was the world champion, he looked at me and he said ‘no, actually, I’m not’. And I told him he was because they seemed to insist. So it wasn’t clear to any of us,” he explains to Austin
“After the race, there were so many things that were unclear regarding the outcome of the championship. The full points, not the full points; the penalty, not a penalty. But hey, that was it.”
“Sport must prevent this from happening once more,” adds Leclerc. “I believe F1 needs to improve in this area, that’s for sure. But I’m sure there will be discussions in the next races so that we can move forward and improve.”
Verstappen won the championship with four races to go. Leclerc admitted it was a disappointment following his strong start to the season.
“As a driver I want to win the title so obviously as soon as I knew or realized it was going to be very unlikely it was hard to accept. In the last two or three races before that we knew this was not going to happen. It was only a matter of time before Max won the championship, so it was no surprise.”
“Obviously it’s always difficult once you realize that the title is no longer possible. But what can I do? Of course I’m disappointed. I have to look ahead and try to make the most of the last part of the season. So I’m going to keep my head up.”
