Max Verstappen: “Nunca iría a Ferrari con Leclerc”

El piloto de Red Bull descartó estar cerca de la escudería italiana porqué no hay que juntar “dos futuro numero uno del mundo”

Hace escasas horas desde Ferrari cerraron la puerta a Max Verstappen, en palabras de Louis Camilleri, CEO de la Scuderia, que con una tajante negativa despejó la posible llegada del piloto neerlandés a Maranello.

El directivo quiso acabar con el baile de nombres que se asocian al monoplaza rojo por la salida hipotética de Sebastian Vettel, según el Diario As.

Tras la negativa llegada desde Italia, ‘Mad Max’ recogió el guante y en una entrevista para la tele de su país, él mismo se autodescartó como futurible piloto rojo: «Nunca iría a Ferrari con Leclerc», dijo. Y no es que sea nada personal contra el monegasco, frente a quien ha tenido duelos salvajes esta temporada (Austria,Silverstone.).

La justificación de Verstappen viene pensando en la estrategia de equipo: «No creo que eso suceda, porque nunca hay que juntar a dos futuros números uno» en el mismo equipo. Y por si quedan dudas, sentencia: «Tengo una buena relación con Charles, es un rival duro, pero esto forma parte del juego».

Habría que consultar también la opinión del piloto de Ferrari y cómo vería, si Vettel no sigue más allá de 2020, que le metieran otro primer espada al otro lado del muro. El monegasco ya sabe lo que es lidiar con directrices de equipo que él no comparte, y sonados han sido algunos mensajes suyos a través de la radio.

Verstappen, por su parte, ha tenido, en ese sentido un año más apacible, en el que ha sido el indiscutible número uno de Red Bull, escudería por la que este año han pasado como compañeros del neerlandés Alex Albon y Pierre Gasly.

Verstappen rules out partnering Leclerc at Ferrari

Max Verstappen has ruled out the idea of him ever driving alongside Charles Leclerc at Ferrari – saying it is wrong for teams to have two ‘number one drivers’.

The Dutchman is one of several top-line drivers who is out of contract at the end of 2020, and he has emerged as a leading candidate for either Ferrari or Mercedes if he elects to leave Red Bull.

With Leclerc under contract until the end of 2022 – and talks underway for his deal to be extended until 2024 – a move there for Verstappen would pit him against his long-time rival.

Speaking to Dutch channel Ziggo Sport, though, Verstappen reckoned that Ferrari was off the table for him because there would be little sense in him being slotted in alongside the young Monegasque driver.

Asked if Ferrari wouldn’t want him because of the risk of trouble with Leclerc, Verstappen said: “I think that won’t happen anyway. I think that you shouldn’t have two potential number ones driving next to each other.”

Verstappen’s remarks about a team not having two number ones would also suggest he does not see an opportunity to be Lewis Hamilton’s future teammate at Mercedes either.

However, he thinks that such a call would ultimately be down to the team management – and Mercedes could well decide that the box office attraction of pitting Hamilton and Verstappen together would outweigh any negatives of friction.

“Well, who knows?” said Verstappen, when asked about the idea of being Hamilton’s teammate. “At the moment I don’t think about this too much.

“In the end it’s always about what the team thinks. I can have an opinion about it, he can have an opinion about it. But in the end they decide what happens. So we’ll see.”

Verstappen says he is impressed with the job that Hamilton has done to take six world championship titles, but is equally well aware of how good the Mercedes car has been.

He believes that almost two-thirds of the grid would have been champion if they were lucky enough to be in Mercedes.

“That’s because it’s purely down to the car. Sixty percent of the grid, if they are in a Mercedes, they also would become world champion,” he said.