Formula 1 motorsport director Ross Brawn believes Ferrari faces a tricky task in maintaining a friendly rivalry between Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc.
The Monegasque’s promotion from the former Sauber team has created one of the most interesting line-ups on the 2019 grid between the four-time world champion and the young pretender to his position at the Scuderia.
In testing, only 0.01s split the best times of the respective drivers and though team boss Mattia Binotto has signalled Vettel remains the priority, Brawn doesn’t expect Leclerc to bow down.
“It could of course still change, but at the moment there is a good atmosphere”, Brawn was quoted by GPFans.com as saying on F1TV.
“I think the drivers are more difficult to manage this year. Charles will not be the same as Kimi, he will make sure that Sebastian is at the top of his game,” he added.
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As a former Ferrari technical director, Brawn is well acquainted with the new team boss at Maranello.
“I worked with Binotto in my time at Ferrari and he is a calm and logical man, I expect him to do well,” the Briton claimed. “Rest and control will be essential for Ferrari.”