Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto has described the challenge of managing Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel as a ‘good thing’.
The Issue of team orders once again came to the equation in Bahrain, as the Monegasque quickly caught up his four-time world champion teammate after falling back to third at the start.
And, while he had abided by a call to stay behind Vettel in Australia, Leclerc chose not to on Sunday, passing Vettel just seven corners after being told to hold position for two laps.
His performance compared to the German all weekend in the desert raised eyebrows and questions about Ferrari’s suggestion that Seb would remain the “priority” and already Binotto’s approach seems to be changing.
“Of course as team boss now I have to manage the drivers, and that was not the case before,” he told Speed Week.
“But I think it’s even a good thing, because it’s important to have the right fighting spirit in the team, and that includes the drivers.”
The Swiss, who also remains in the role of technical director, did concede it was Vettel who needed more support from Ferrari too, compared to Leclerc.
“For the driver, it is important to feel the confidence of the team, we give everything to make him feel good,” Binotto said.
“But more important than that, in my opinion, is a strong car. After all, everything works better with a good and fast car.
“It also has to be a car that suits him.”
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The initial decision to declare Vettel the lead driver is coming in for scrutiny though, with his performance in Bahrain seen as an example of the same faults he had last year.
“Binotto is a very good engineer who knows how to make fast cars, but probably he wasn’t expecting Leclerc to be immediately competitive. This will create an issue for him,” former Ferrari boss Cesare Fiorio claimed.
“If I had to decide, I wouldn’t appoint a first and a second driver, but I’d leave them free to race. Just like I did with Prost and Mansell, who were very competitive but never had a problem with one another.”