Leclerc puts his money on Hamilton, but 'it will be tight'

Charles Leclerc believes the title battle will go down to the wire, but the Ferrari driver expects Lewis Hamilton to prevail in Abu Dhabi over Max Verstappen.

Red Bull's Verstappen leads his arch-rival by eight points ahead of this weekend's round of racing in Saudi Arabia.

But Hamilton's consecutive wins in Brazil and in Qatar have shifted the momentum back to the Mercedes camp, a fact that has swayed Leclerc's outlook on the championship.

"I keep changing my mind," Leclerc said when asked to comment on the titanic title battle. "I was pretty sure Max will get it until Sao Paulo.

"Then after Brazil I changed a bit my mind. And now I think probably Lewis is on a good run.

"But it’s true Max has the points advantage which is what matters. So it’s going to be tight but, if anything, maybe Lewis."

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Ferrari's drivers haven't been in a position to challenge for race wins this season, but Leclerc is nevertheless happy to see such a fierce fight take pace up ahead, for the sake of Formula 1.

"It’s just very nice to see for the sport," said the Monegasque.

"Also, I mean for myself I don’t see much of that battle because I’m racing at the same time as them, but it’s nice to see the title fight being so close."

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