Charles Leclerc hints Verstappen rivalry could get nasty with F1 star open to ‘more risks’ like Lewis Hamilton last year

CHARLES LECLERC has hinted that his F1 rivalry with Max Verstappen could get more nasty as he becomes open to “more risks”.

The Ferrari driver trails the Dutchman by a whopping 80 points after a litany of mistakes from the Italian team saw their season unravel.

With only nine races left, the Monegasque now needs a miracle to win his first World Championship.

The one-sided title fight is in complete contrast to last year, when Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were still competing for the crown on the last lap of the final race.

Their heated rivalry last year saw multiple flashpoints, and Leclerc acknowledged it is not impossible that things could get spicier between him and Verstappen if he can reel his rival in.

He told the : “It [the way you race] depends on the situation, on the person you’re facing, your opponent – how far is he willing to go?

“So, I feel like the championship of last year [between Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen] was probably much more prone to see these type of things because it was so close until the very end.

“I would have expected us to be much more like this if the championship will be extremely close towards the end. [If] it’s not finished, then we might see that at the end of the year.”

Despite winning two of the opening three races, Leclerc’s title chances have fallen away after a calamitous few races.

He lost multiple positions at the British Grand Prix after his team told him to not pit under a late safety car, leading to him being vulnerable on the restart.

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In the French Grand Prix he crashed out while in the lead.

And the Hungarian Grand Prix saw strategy blunders that left him tumbling down the order, while Verstappen recovered from starting 10th to win the race.

The F1 season returns after a break at the end of this month with the Belgium Grand Prix.