Leclerc vs Verstappen: The battle for Formula 1

Red Bull has taken a more incremental approach to upgrades, bringing new parts regularly. A modified floor was most recent significant step in Spain. Their respective development rates means the performance picture has remained similar over the season. But what has made the fight so fascinating is that the Red Bull RB18 and Ferrari F1-75 produce their lap times in very different ways.

The Ferrari is the stronger qualifying car, particularly with Leclerc at the wheel, with five pole positions out of seven. The Red Bull is quick but generally a better proposition in the race, with a tendency to be gentler on the Pirellis – although there have been times when it has hit trouble, such as the tyre-graining problems that prevented it from being a threat to Ferrari on race day in Australia.

The Ferrari is punchy off the slow corners – a key advantage in Monaco last weekend. The Red Bull is strong on straights long enough for it to stretch its legs, which has given it a key race-day advantage at circuits where overtaking is more straightforward, and quick through the lower-speed corners.

What makes this battle so fascinating is the drivers. Verstappen transformed and re-optimised his driving style comprehensively for this new generation of cars, from the start of testing adopting a super-smooth, almost Alain Prost-esque style that's dramatically different from what he used before.

This is because while last year’s Red Bull had a strong front end and lively rotation on corner entry (great for Verstappen but limiting for the majority of drivers who lost confidence to the unstable rear end), these new cars struggle for front-end load into slower corners in particular. That’s not helped by the more understeery balance of the new low-profile tyres.

It’s a characteristic that suits team-mate Pérez, who, assisted by the fact that Verstappen has racked up one more retirement, is within 15 points in the standings but still usually a few tenths off Verstappen's ultimate pace.

Leclerc has a car that allows him to express his brilliance in qualifying. Spain is a classic example, as, with a set-up designed to protect the front end on race day, he had a car that was prone to rear-end snappiness. After a spin on his first Q3 lap, he nailed pole position on the second – such is his confidence and capacity to deal with such instability.

As for team-mate Carlos Sainz, what he calls the lightness of the rear means he hasn't been at Leclerc’s level.

The battle between Leclerc and Verstappen has been a phony war so far and all smiles, but it remains a tinderbox waiting to erupt. And at Monaco, where Ferrari unsuccessfully protested both Red Bull drivers in the belief that they had illegally crossed the yellow line demarking the pit exit, we saw the first hint of needle between the teams.

If Ferrari and Red Bull remain at a similar level (and there’s every chance that they will as the vagaries of circuit characteristics and conditions swings it one way or the other), this battle is sure to explode on track.

Mercedes remains absent from the fight but with a tantalising hint that it could emerge as a confounding factor up front even if it has potentially already lost too much ground to be a threat in the drivers’ or constructors’ championship.

An aerodynamic upgrade in Spain largely solved its porpoising problem. While the car was still well down in qualifying, Hamilton showed in recovering from the back after a first-lap clash with Kevin Magnussen to fifth the pace to have been a threat to Red Bull and, at a stretch, possibly even Ferrari.