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A despondent Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, after crashing out of the lead at Le Beausset
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Opinion

The 2018 Vettel rut Leclerc must avoid in F1 2022's title fight

OPINION: With a French Grand Prix crash that hampers Ferrari's Formula 1 title credentials even further, Charles Leclerc revived uncomfortable memories for the Scuderia of Sebastian Vettel's 2018 Hockenheim blunder. Leclerc's immediate reaction was markedly different to the German's, and that must continue to be the case going forward if he is to have any chance of toppling Max Verstappen in 2022

The qualifying king, an ability to nail consummate victories, battle wheel-to-wheel and pass your key title rival, but occasionally cracking under the pressure that comes with Ferrari not having won a championship since 2008. This season’s Charles Leclerc, meet early 2018-spec Sebastian Vettel.

The eerily similar first half of these two campaigns is striking, and now both might come to be remembered for a critical crash. Leclerc’s smoky spin into the Beausset barriers last weekend in the French Grand Prix could become just as symbolic of a lost drivers’ crown as Vettel skating across the gravel and into the wall at Hockenheim three years and 363 days previously.

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