Charles Leclerc's wheel-to-wheel battles with Max Verstappen this season were less aggressive than the Red Bull driver's tussles with Lewis Hamilton, and the Ferrari driver explains why.
Leclerc and Verstappen enjoyed a series of close fights at the start of the season as the pair traded wins. But while intense, the on-track wrestling between the two rivals was always clean.
That wasn't the case months later between Verstappen and Hamilton when the two adversaries briefly reignited their past feud and clashed at the first corner on the second lap of the race.
The Red Bull charger later declared that his nemesis had "zero intention to leave me space", while Hamilton brushed off his rival's criticism, saying "you know how it is with Max".
Asked why his on-track warfare this season with Verstappen was less dramatic than between the latter and Hamilton, Leclerc pointed to the circumstances in which his fights with his Red Bull opponent took place.
"We know each other very well, but I don’t think that is the reason why it’s quieter between us," said Leclerc.
"I think the difference with Max versus Lewis from last year is that we were at different points in the season.
"Our duels were at the beginning of the year. After that, either I had a big lead in the championship or Max was way ahead.
"You don’t take as many risks. So it was more because of the nature of the championship."
But Leclerc admitted that if the stakes are high, like in an end-of-season showdown, the bickering would likely escalate.
"If we fight to the end in 2023, I think it would be a tougher race," said the Monegasque.
In 2019, at Spielberg and at Silverstone, Leclerc and Verstappen fought intensely, the Ferrari charger losing out in Austria but winning their battle in Britain.
It was perhaps an episode from which both drivers learned a lesson from the other.
"I hated the outcome of Austria," said Leclerc. "I thought, you can’t drive like that. But when the stewards told me it was allowed, I was the first to welcome that approach.
"I like to fight hard on the track. At the limit. That’s how I like racing. Hopefully we will see such duels in the future."
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