Sebastian Vettel insists he sees a "very serious" threat from new Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc this season.

Last week, team boss Mattia Binotto declared the German would remain the "priority" of the Italian team in 2019 and may impose team orders on the Monegasque if required.

While that may appear to clear a substantial obstacle out of the way for Vettel in his bid for a fifth world title, he strongly rejects that is the case.

"[He is] a full rival," he was quoted by GPFans.com when asked how he viewed Leclerc.

"He's in the seat for a reason so I've got to take him very serious. You always have a close rivalry with your teammate, but priority number one is to bring the team forward.

"I don't know him as a teammate yet, everybody is different, but I'm not overcomplicating these things, I'm taking it quite straightforward," he added.

"I'm not the one starting any problems and I don't expect that Charles is starting any problems. I'm actually looking forward to it."

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Plenty of pundits and observers are touting big things for the 21-year-old, mostly at the expense of Vettel, and Leclerc was certainly no slouch in testing on Tuesday as he all-but matched Sebastian's best time from Monday on the same program.

"Obviously I've been around a bit longer than he has so maybe there are different things he will have on his plate in the beginning but he's a nice kid and I hope, in a positive way, you leave him alone to do his job," the former Red Bull driver said.

"I'm very certain he will be quick enough and put me under pressure. We'll see how it goes."

Commenting on his first day in the SF90, Leclerc acknowledged emotions had to be "put to one side" to focus on the task at hand.

“I am very happy with the way today went,” he was quoted by Crash.net. 

“Despite some red flag interruptions, we were able to get through all our programme and to do 157 laps, which has produced a lot of useful data. 

“In terms of feeling, I quickly felt comfortable with the SF90 and I have to say I really enjoyed myself.

“Let’s hope we keep going like this over the next few days because it’s important to make the most of the few on-track testing opportunities we have.”