Max Verstappen has offered a simple piece of advice to Charles Leclerc after the Monegasque suffered another disappointment at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Leclerc had been leading when smoke started billowing from the rear of his Ferrari on Lap 21, forcing him to return to the pits and retire from the race. A similar occurrence happened at the Spanish Grand Prix in May, while Leclerc's home event in Monaco soon afterwards also ended badly, with a pit-stop strategy blunder dropping him from P1 to P4. Leclerc admitted after the race in Baku that it marked his "third disappointment in a row" as he called for the Scuderia to make improvements.
Verstappen understands Leclerc's situation
Verstappen, meanwhile, came away from Azerbaijan with another victory under his belt after leading a 1-2 result for Red Bull with teammate Sergio Perez. The Dutchman has also increased his lead in the World Championship standings, while Leclerc's DNF enabled Perez to move up into second, pushing the Ferrari driver down to third. Despite the rivalry between the two, Verstappen can sympathise with how Leclerc must be feeling in his current situation, having experienced similar issues himself. "I would always say s*** happens," Verstappen told media, including RacingNews365.com . "That's racing. It happened to me, it happened to many people in the past. Unfortunately, it's happening to Charles. "If I will be in the same situation I would also be disappointed. I think that's very normal."
Advice for Leclerc from Verstappen
Leclerc might be having a tough time at the moment, but Verstappen has offered some advice on how the driver from Monaco can bounce back. "It's about how you come out of it," explained the 2021 World Champion, who was affected by reliability issues of his own earlier in the campaign. "You always look at how to improve things. That's what we did as well in the beginning of the season. "You learn from it, you don't like it, you're angry, but we turned it around, but you always have to stay on it because something else might happen and you always have to prevent these issues from happening." The next opportunity for Leclerc to recover is not far away, with the Canadian Grand Prix set to take place on 17-19 June.
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