After watching Max Verstappen “play with the rules” last season, Charles Leclerc is ready to channel that approach for F1 2025.
After a dominant start to F1 2024, it was looking like a fresh cruise to title glory for Verstappen and Red Bull, but ultimately the Dutchman was made to work hard for his fourth consecutive title with McLaren’s Lando Norris emerging as a genuine threat.
Charles Leclerc to ‘play with the rules’ like Max Verstappen
Verstappen all but ended the Norris challenge with an iconic Brazilian GP victory drive, before making his fourth straight title official at the next round in Las Vegas, bringing to an end a battle which had sparked controversy at several points.
Most notably was the Mexican GP where Verstappen got a 10-second penalty for pushing Norris off the track and another 10 seconds for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, Verstappen recently reflecting on that race by saying he will “cross a line” to get the reward – a “mentality” not everyone has.
But it seems Ferrari racer Leclerc cannot be included in that group as he plans to show Verstappen in F1 2025 that he also will dabble in a spot of rule bending.
Ferrari go into F1 2025 with strong title ambitions after finishing runner-up to McLaren in the 2024 Constructors’ standings, with seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton arriving from Mercedes as Leclerc’s new team-mate.
“You’ve got to pick your battles and I feel like Max knows how to adapt to different situations, and we’ve seen it [in 2024],” Leclerc told RN365.
“There were moments where he was not aggressive, but when the end of the season arrived and Lando was coming back there, you could see him play with the rules a lot more and I feel like I’ve got that in me.
“I know that whenever big things will be at stake, when it will be the moment to take those risks with the right people, I’ll go for it.
“But that’s also why I’ve always enjoyed racing with Max, the mentality of the driver is a big part.
“We’ve known each other for a long time, and so it is always more exciting when we’re fighting together.
“Unfortunately [not in 2024], because at the beginning of the season, he had quite a dominant car and we were not in the fight with him.
“He had no reason to be aggressive with us in some kinds of ways, and then we were playing catch-up.
“By the time we were competitive, there was Lando in between, so he never really saw us as a direct competitor, so [in 2024], there weren’t these fights.”
But former F1 driver turned Sky F1 pundit Martin Brundle sees such battles taking place in F1 2025, with the “breathing space” which Verstappen built up for himself last season no longer there.
“I think 2025 could be an all-time classic Formula 1 season,” Brundle predicted in a Reddit ‘ask me anything’ session.
“The cars are converging, we’ve got some brilliant drivers on the grid, the teams have speed, they have amazing reliability, and it’s going to be oh-so close.
“Max obviously started 2024 with a lot of victories that’s given him some breathing space.
“But we’ve had seven victories so far this season. It’s so close out front and the racing is good. And it’s what we want. It’s unpredictable and I see even more of the same in 2025!”