Sebastian Vettel has again played down the threat posed by Charles Leclerc at Ferrari.
There has been yet more speculation surrounding the Italian team after a strategy error caused the Monegasque to be knocked out in Q1 during qualifying for his home race.
In addition, a rumour was reported that Vettel is considering leaving Formula 1 after 2019, no doubt with the emergence of Leclerc being a factor if that is the case.
“I think it’s positive. We’re pushing each other,” Vettel said of the partnership to Crash.net.
“But I think in fairness and keeping the respect, I don’t think I’ve had easy teammates in the past. I don’t think Kimi is slow.
"Obviously they are different: different people first of all, different drivers, different style."
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The four-time F1 champion also maintains Leclerc's performance is of great benefit to Ferrari.
“I think it became apparent for good reasons that Charles is very talented and very fast," he stated.
"So I think that’s a good situation for the team to have two drivers pushing the car to the limit and exploring the limitations, and trying to find out first of all what they are, and second how we can fix them.”
A number of team order controversies and the Italian team's own lack of performance has held results back this season, and Leclerc admits he was expecting more.
"Unfortunately it has not been the start to the season we wished," he said.
"We had quite a bit of a disappointment since the beginning of the season, but we need to keep our head up and keep working as hard as we possibly can and the results will eventually come."
