Sebastian Vettel has given his first insight into how he expects his partnership with Charles Leclerc to work at Ferrari in 2019.
The decision to promote the Monegasque after just one year at Sauber has triggered a lot of debate with some questioning if it’s too early for the 21-year-old or whether his arrival could disrupt Vettel given Charles is seen as the long-term future of the Scuderia.
Something Leclerc has wanted to emphasise is he won’t be stepping up just to play a support role to the German and Vettel is aware of the different dynamic that will be created.
“It will certainly be different, because Charles is not Kimi and Kimi is not Charles,” the four-time champion told Motorsport.com.
“He is a young boy, I think he will have a lot of thoughts in his mind and I think we will have to work together in the interests of the team.
“I’m sure he wants to beat me like I want to beat him, the rules are clear, and they are the same rules that are with Kimi,” he added
“I think the key is working together and, as I said, he will have many things in his head.”
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For any thoughts of possible conflict between what could be viewed as the master and the apprentice, Vettel also insists he is happy to help Leclerc find his feet at Ferrari.
“I’m his teammate, so I’m here to help him too,” he claimed. I’m not the type that is hiding or playing games, which is why I think I get along very well with Kimi, because we are very similar on this front. We’ll see…”