Are Leclerc and Russell just playing the waiting game?

For every team other than Red Bull Racing, the 2023 Formula 1 season has been one of failure and frustration. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have combined for ten wins between them in the opening ten races of the campaign, sweeping their rivals aside with relative ease.

Verstappen has been relentless as he pursues a third Drivers’ Championship crown on the bounce, while Red Bull have all but locked up the Constructors’ Championship once again.

Frustration for Leclerc and Russell as Max wins just about everything

The rest of the field has been forced to battle for the scraps with few podium places on offer. Due to Verstappen’s dominance, you can only find final standings markets without him present for betting online on the Drivers’ Championship so convinced are the bookies that he will win the title.

Perez is the top contender in the market without Verstappen at 1/3 or 1.33/-300 if you like to use decimals or whole numbers for your odds which can be performed by using an odds converter online. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are next on the list, with the latter enjoying a renaissance in his career at the age of 41 with Aston Martin.

Meanwhile, Verstappen’s contemporaries must be green with envy as he continues to succeed while they have struggled to make a breakthrough in becoming title challengers.

Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr will be tearing their hair out again as the Italian outfit have failed to provide them with a vehicle that is even close to matching Red Bull. Ferrari have not been able to get out of their own way for 16 years now, and the tension is palpable in the ranks.

Ferrari banking on Leclerc for the future

Leclerc is an impressive driver and arguably has more talent behind the wheel than the Dutchman at the top of the standings, but is well off the pace this term, and may even struggle to place in the top three come the end of the campaign.

At least, he has managed to make two appearances on the podium, finishing second in the Austrian Grand Prix and third in Azerbaijan.

But he was fighting a losing battle against Verstappen from the off after being forced to retire in the first race of the campaign and another followed in Australia. It has been the story of his career to date.

Leclerc and Ferrari are just playing the waiting game to see if they can finally conjure a solution to their longstanding problems that can allow them to compete at the top. It is a colossal waste of talent and must be eating away at the psyche of the Monegasque. And he’s not the only one.

Mercedes banking on Russell for the future

George Russell impressed in his first season at Mercedes, displaying a strong level of consistency that both the Brit and his team would translate into a title challenge in 2023. Russell has maintained his consistency, but only for places outside of the top three, notching only one podium finish in his first ten races of the term.

Russell has all the talent at his disposal, but his bid to make a breakthrough has been stalled by Mercedes’ issues. Unlike Hamilton, Russell has not been handed a championship-quality vehicle. Like Leclerc, he now has to play the waiting game to see if improvements can be made over the second half of the campaign.

It’s not going to make a difference this season, but could provide a momentum boost to take into 2024 and beyond.