‘Everything was perfect’… Marc Gene says 26-year-old driver was really ‘lucky’ in Las Vegas last weekend

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Ferrari ambassador Marc Gene has admitted he thought Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen was very lucky during the Las Vegas Grand Prix last weekend.

Gene was speaking to the F1 Nation Podcast off the back of a good race for the Italian outfit.

It was a case of what could have been for Charles Leclerc, he narrowly missed out on converting another pole position into a race win.

He didn’t pit under the second safety car when his two Red Bull rivals did and although Max Verstappen fell down the order, he had the pace to weave his way through the grid to take an 18^th win of the season.

It could have been a much tougher race for Verstappen though after his overtake on George Russell didn’t quite go to plan.

He made a late dive down the inside of turn 12 and the Mercedes driver didn’t spot him damaging Verstappen’s front wing.

Marc Gene has admitted that Verstappen was lucky not to have picked up more damage from the accident.

It sounds slightly bitter from Gene considering it was his driver Leclerc who ultimately couldn’t benefit from the Dutchman’s slip up.

The Monegasque driver’s wait to win another race goes on and he may now have to wait until 2024 unless he can get the better of Verstappen and co. in Abu Dhabi.

Gene says Verstappen was lucky in Las Vegas

Speaking about the 26-year-old, Gene said: “You could say, oh he’s been unlucky today or Max has been lucky because even if you look at the impact between Max and Russell and his car was not damaged!

“I mean for Max everything was perfect but he [Charles Leclerc] knows he did a great race and then the last overtaking of Perez, that may put a smile on his face.

“I know when the numbers you see them, 21 pole positions, five wins but really it’s not down to him.

“He’s had a car that is good in qualifying and not so much so in the race and today luck was not on his side.”

It’s hard to agree with Gene that Verstappen was simply lucky in Las Vegas but he did get away with a few things.

He could have been asked to give the lead back to Leclerc after overtaking him going into the first corner off the track but instead was handed a five-second penalty.

That ended up not mattering a huge amount as Leclerc managed to overtake him on the track before the first round of pit stops.

Verstappen has shown his dominance all season and although he’s easily got the best car, he’s also completely outclassed teammate Sergio Perez.

Las Vegas was one of his closer races and Leclerc will know he needs a perfect race to get close to beating him right now.