02/07/2019
NEWS STORY
As much as one admired Max Verstappen's performance on Sunday, his ruthless hunting down of Charles Leclerc echoing Michael Schumacher at his most predatory, one had to feel for the young Monegasque, who for the second time this season seemed set for victory only to have it snatched away.
Despite unease with the way in which Verstappen took victory, and the failure of the stewards to recognise this, team boss, Mattia Binotto is confident that Leclerc will learn from the experience and that his confidence will be back for Silverstone.
"There is no difficulty to encourage him," said Binotto. "He's already prepared for the next one.
"Today gives him even more of a boost to somehow get his first victory in F1," he added. "Certainly he's sorry for the outcome, I think after qualifying yesterday it was somehow very optimistic and after the first laps of the race he was controlling the race and saw himself in a good position.
"But that's what's good in the sport," he added, "the chequered flag is only at the end of the race, and anything may happen.
"So I think he's simply looking ahead at the next races as a new challenge and he's very hungry, so I'm pretty sure sooner or later it will be his time."