"Max hits the table with his fist" - Key difference between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc highlighted by Dutch driver

Dutch racing driver Tom Coronel drew comparisons between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen when it comes to their driving styles and how they handle conflicts with the team regarding disagreements about strategies.

At the 2022 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend, Leclerc revealed that he would have preferred to have continued with the medium compound tires for the first stint before shifting to softs for the second half later on in the race. Ferrari, however, decided to pit the Monegasque for hard tires shortly after he took on mediums, at which point the driver lost total grip and only managed to finish the race in sixth.

Speaking about the incident on the RacingNews365 podcast, Coronel admitted that this is exactly where Max Verstappen stands apart from the likes of Charles Leclerc and, at times, Lewis Hamilton. He emphasized that the Dutchman is the kind of driver who knows exactly what he needs and how to get the desired result, and the kind who will stubbornly fight for the same, rather than letting go of an opportunity to finish higher in a Grand Prix.

Coronel said:

“But this is also in the driver. The driver should have already been able to indicate this. A difference between Leclerc and Max: Max hits the table with his fist. He knows what he wants, he knows what he’s doing and he doesn’t accept something like that.”

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Max Verstappen admits that Ferrari's strategic blunder helped him win the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP

Max Verstappen, who was already reasonably wary of Red Bull's pace as compared to that of Ferrari at the Hungaroring, started the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP from 10th, while both Ferrari's started in the top three. While the reigning world champion was happy with the pace and strategy of Red Bull, he admitted that Ferrari made the wrong call to put Charles Leclerc on the hard tires in his second pit stop of the race, ultimately helping out Verstappen.

In a post-race press conference, the Red Bull driver said:

“I think we were competitive. But I think also Ferrari chose the wrong tyres in their final stint before they then pitted again. Because before that I think they were quite strong as well. And yeah, it was just being on the right tyre, you know. I think also the call we had in the beginning, to be on the soft, was a bit safer, you know, to stay out of trouble and have a bit of grip.”

“So yeah, I think it’s still, you know, it’s about little details again. And, yeah, we just keep on working, keep on trying to improve the car, because I think there are still a few more areas where we can work on to do better. But again, of course, after the break, we have a few races that are a bit different to this track as well. So it will be interesting to see how competitive we’re going to be there.”

Max Verstappen now leads the world championship standings with an 80-point advantage over Charles Leclerc.