Verstappen and Leclerc’s strong start heralds an exciting new era for Formula 1

After the battle of the generations last season, and the young Dutchman Max Verstappen snatched the title from the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc (from Monaco) emerged to ignite the new era of the world championship for racing “Formula 1”.

The first two races of the season under the floodlights in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia witnessed an exciting competition between Charles Leclerc, Ferrari’s driver, and Verstappen’s Red Bull driver, with each winning one race.

The two 24-year-old drivers are leading the new generation of youngsters who were children when Mercedes’ Hamilton started his Formula 1 career in 2007, where Leclerc and Verstappen had been competing since their childhood in karting.

It’s very good for the championship after a great start to the season,” Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto said.

Leclerc leads the standings ahead of his Spanish colleague Carlos Sainz (27 years), followed by Verstappen third, and George Russell (24 years) in fourth place with Mercedes, while Hamilton comes fifth.

The first category car competitions have undergone drastic changes to the regulations in the hope of making the competition closer and more exciting, and Red Bull boss Christian Horner said: “In the last two races, we have seen Charles and Max outsmart each other about ten times, which we have not seen in previous seasons, it was a great competition. . It’s just a start, but it’s a sign that the regulations have been successful in making the races more even and exciting. It is amazing”.

The next round will be held in Australia on the tenth of April, before the return of “Formula 1” to Europe in the Italian Imola race in front of the Ferrari fans. “Now it will be all about developing the cars and unleashing their viability in competition that is still in its infancy,” Horner said. We can see Ferrari have a very fast car, and it will be a busy period during the rest of the spring to try to extract all the potential of the cars and understand how the tires work, etc. over the next few races.”

Ferrari is leading the way to Melbourne, where it leads the constructors’ championship with 78 points out of a maximum of 88 points, but Binotto says Red Bull is still the team to beat. He is still very fast, he is the strongest because he has the world champion.” “I would say (Red Bull) is still the nominee, we’re trying to do our best, let’s see. There are a lot of situations that could happen.”

Red Bull is third in the constructors’ championship with 37 points, one point behind Mercedes, and what worries the team are efficiency problems with the car, as it exited the Bahrain race empty-handed. “Luck tends to level out all year round,” Horner explained. We just have to deal with each race individually. We are off target now. We scored points and won our first race of the year. The two drivers competed very well and now we have some momentum.”

In Jeddah, Red Bull was the fastest in the straights, while Ferrari was the fastest in the corners, and the different circuits will play on the strengths of each team. Meanwhile, the championship-dominated constructors’ champion Mercedes must deal with the rebound problem in its car to get back into the competition. “It’s a tough fight with Ferrari,” Horner says. I have no doubts that at some point Mercedes will join that fight, but my focus is very much on our team.”