Charles Leclerc, Ferrari Junior driver

I think Kimi at the Monza point was now being told he was not being retained. He felt free and performed as a driver should anyway and took pole. Kimi had nothing to lose. Vettel took it with his own action not be patient and not make a smarter move. Vettel is at fault no matter how Kimi addressed his personal race. It was time for a change and Charles is a good selection. We have no information as to how they arrived at the decision point with respect to Kimi and Charles. But it was made clear Vettel had no input at all by Arrive.

 

Nothing against him taking pole but at this time of the season when Mercedes has already shown that they put everything on Lewis and Bottas serving as "wingman" Ferrari should have done the same... So Kimi letting Seb go and holding up Lewis. Sebs mistake was a direct consequence on Ferrari missing to have a plan for the start. And replacing Kimi with Charles will make things worse rather than better. Guess why Mercedes did not try to hire an even replacement for Nico but a clear No.2, even although they were talking different for years. They saw that as soon as it gets closer there is no alternative to having a clear No.1. Ferrari had that for years and now all of the sudden they move away from it???

 

They tried 2 years to win with Vettel, my view is they are trying to get more talent above anything else. Also Leclerc's young, he can become their investment for the future.

 

This is what makes most sense. I think there was tension with Arrive and Sergio about Vettel and his expectations to lead the team ala MS. His performance certainly did not inspire confidence over the years now.

 

Nobody expected Seb to be Schumacher... it is Ferrari as a team that failed numerous times with Alonso and now Seb. People behave like Ferrari was winning titles all the time until Seb came and screwed it up. All these failures in strategy and then developing in the wrong direction after the summer break are hardly Sebs mistake but yet people behave like it is only Seb loosing the title. If Seb is that fragile as you say it would make even less sense to put more pressure on him with replacing Kimi with Charles. But maybe the strategy of Ferrari is that Mercedes wil not develop over the winter because they are laughing so much over this decision that they might forget that they still have to deliver

 

+1 agree

 

Will Charles upset the apple cart next year

 

The team's stated position was clear this year - They feel Vettel had more errors. Thats Arrive talking in the press. He felt the teams errors were fewer. Sergio told Vettel to stay out of team business that was not his. Arrive said Vettel had no input to driver hiring decisions. Managment is in control and the thoughts of the F1 press was Vettel had a vision of leading a team like MS and it was not going to happen.

 

I agree, ALL F1 teams made bad decisions/mistakes, not just Ferrari. No team has a perfect year.

 

All this chat about Ferrari putting more pressure on Vettel bringing Leclerc makes no sense to me. If a 4 times world champion can't handle the pressure from an almost rookie, then he doesn't deserve to be a number 1 at Ferrari.

If I could give an advice to Vettel is whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

 

And why did Mercedes hire Bottas as a wingman then? Same could be said about Lewis...

 

He has not dealt with pressure well. Former F1 pilots have stated so along with the F1 press. Its on display this year. I think they hired a replacement for Vettel and Vettel will train him LOL

 

This is not at all about LH.

 

So Ferrari says it is Vettel to blame and they do not see faults by themselves... well denial is the best way to make it better next year

 

I won't answer that question to keep this thread clean, LOL.

 

What other driver was available at the time?

 

Not very complicated: we can be certain that the Scuderia had Charles in their driver program because they had identified him and assessed his talent as potential future WDC level. His driving at Sauber/Alfa Romeo has verified those assessments. Sebastien is 31 years old, Charles 21. So it is now time to bring him into the Scuderia proper. Seb remains #1 until Charles demonstrates he is faster consistently, the last word being significant.

 

No it is not... it is about Mertcedes and Ferrari. Mercedes did realize that Lewis can only perform best if he is 100% supported and Ferrari does not seem to give Seb the same support. The success gave Mercedes right for chosing a No.2 driver but Ferrari does not...I doubt that Charles will play the same role as Bottas did and Seb and Charles will take points from each other what Bottas will not. So I do not see how this will help Ferrari to win the title!
I would have kept Seb and Kimi and let Charles do another year with Sauber and if Seb does not win the title next year then replace him with Charles and not team him...

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/140652/vettel-not-expecting-anything-EUR%7EwrongEURTM-v-leclerc

Sebastian Vettel says he does not expect there to be "anything wrong on-track" between himself and new Ferrari Formula 1 team-mate Charles Leclerc in 2019.

Vettel's four seasons at Ferrari have been spent alongside Kimi Raikkonen, with whom the four-time world champion developed a strong relationship with off-track.

The arrival of Leclerc next season, after just one year in F1 at Sauber, will present a different dynamic and the 21-year-old has been tipped to challenge Vettel immediately after four years of the German enjoying a relatively comfortable advantage over his team-mate.

Vettel said: "I don't know Charles so much yet, he doesn't know me.

"We know each other [to some degree], he's a good kid, so I don't expect that there's anything wrong on-track.

"We will be rivals as much as Kimi and myself have been rivals.

"You will try to get first and if you do that you beat everybody else, also your team-mate.

"We will see, we also know we want to bring Ferrari back to winning ways. For him it's a different point in his career compared to mine.

"I think time will tell, but from what I know now and how much I know him now, he seems like a good guy."

Vettel joked that after four years together "maybe he [Raikkonen] had enough" but, having already said he would miss the Finn's "zero ********" mentality, said he would have liked it if Raikkonen had stayed on.

Both drivers also suggested at last week's FIA end-of-season awards ceremony that they would remain friends even though they were no longer team-mates.

How Vettel and Leclerc work together at Ferrari will be an intriguing sub-plot in 2019 given the mounting pressure on Vettel to produce a season-long title challenge for the Scuderia.

Leclerc's arrival has been likened to that of Daniel Ricciardo's at Red Bull in 2014, when Vettel was comprehensively beaten by his new team-mate after securing four world titles.

However, Leclerc who had his first experience of life as a Ferrari driver at the post-season test in Abu Dhabi earlier this month, said his priority is to use every available resource to improve and that includes working well with Vettel.

"I have to continue to grow and be focused on the areas where I'm still weak," said Leclerc.

"I will try to learn from everyone in the team and also from my team mate. [The programme is to] get ready as much as I can.

"I can't wait to be in the car in the first test and in the first race."

 

What will Seb do when Leclerc will finish him?

 

The conditions now are very different from his time at Red Bull, so there is no point making constant reference to his 4 titles.
All that is well in the past, and it's harder for Vettel to win a race now in the present climate.
His car is not always the best, the team support is shambolic at times, and the Mercedes team has been often faultless.

 

Of course it's now harder, but he's been paid as a world champion and it's now when he has to show if he's worth it. Anybody can win with the best car!

 

He was actually not worth it the last 2 seasons. Ferrari should have asked for some salary return. Hitting another car in Baku, ridiculous radio screaming at Mexico and then all his junior formula errors this year. Over paid and over rated he is.

At least Charles is coming to freshen the line up and take us forward hopefully all for a lot less money than Vettel.

 

Ferrari putting pressure on Vettel with Leclerc!! Ha, ha. Vettel should be grateful to Ferrari for not hiring Ricciardo when he was available. With the rookie at least he can start the season without having a knife in his neck, and from then on we will see what happens.