Beating Max Verstappen while "on equal footing" at the Austrian Grand Prix should give Charles Leclerc the confidence he needs to challenge for the Formula 1 title, according to one former champion.
Verstappen was the favourite to take victory in front of huge support from spectators at the Red Bull Ring last weekend. He coasted to the win in the Sprint, but was upstaged by Leclerc when it came to Sunday's main event.
It was the Ferrari star who took victory at a race during which yet more reliability concerns reared their ugly heads for the Italian team. Carlos Sainz failed to finish due to an engine blowout which saw his car burst into flames, while Leclerc himself had gearbox issues in the latter stages of the race.
Nevertheless, he managed to keep Verstappen at arm's length and nursed his car across the line to move to within 38 points of the defending champion. And 1997 title-winner Jacques Villeneuve believes it is a victory that will give Leclerc a huge boost.
"The victory is of course good for his confidence," wrote the Canadian in his column for Dutch outlet Formule1.NL. "That first overtaking manoeuvre on Verstappen especially, they were on equal footing – the same amount of fuel and the same tyres. That was a good battle.
"After that the differences in tyres plus the DRS were too big. Verstappen didn't really defend there anymore either. You saw that throughout the race, DRS generates overtaking pushes but not necessarily better fights. The question is what we want from F1. The 2022 rules were conceived with the idea of also removing DRS in the long run. But we are so used to it now – as are the fans."
Villeneuve also went on to claim that Verstappen was "lucky" that Sainz's car was engulfed in flames, otherwise he would have lost even more of his cushion. The Spaniard looked set to overtake with a one-two looking likely for Ferrari before his engine trouble.
"Carlos' retirement was a lucky break for Verstappen," he added. "That was a painful one for him. Villeneuve also went on to criticise the race director for not deploying the safety car straight away, and suggested that the life-saving halo device made it more difficult for Sainz to escape the flames.
He continued: "It looked dangerous with that rolling car. It's just harder to get out with the halo. I thought it was a shame that we got the VSC instead of the safety car. I'm not seeing any consistency in that this year either. I think you should always use the safety car in the race – it's safer, to start with."
