Leclerc will beat Vettel right away, says former Ferrari test driver, as he does not rate Vettel very high as a driver.
Charles Leclerc’s move to Ferrari just after one season in F1 has to be one of the best stories the sport has ever seen.
Leclerc has admitted that it had always been a dream to drive for Ferrari in F1, one that will be realised come 2019.
The move though was a long drawn one, as rumours of a move had started doing the rounds from Monza, but no official confirmation came through for days.
Now, while Leclerc is a long term replacement for Raikkonen, a few fans believe that Leclerc could infact challenge Vettel too, and maybe outperform in his very first season.
And one of those fans is the ex Ferrari test driver, Rafaelle Maricello, who feels that Vettel could be blown away by Leclerc.
“I have never rated Vettel at the level of Hamilton, Alonso or even Kubica,” Maricello said as quoted Formula Passion.
“And I am convinced that when Charles arrives at Ferrari, he will be able to beat him right away. I think that if Ferrari does not win the world title this year, it will be Sebastian’s responsibility.
“In the years of the Red Bull titles he had Mark Webber behind him, not a champion. And their car was much better than all the others.
“The comparison with Raikkonen is not very reliable. When I drove during testing in Abu Dhabi in 2014, I was seven-tenths faster than Kimi, but those seven-tenths did not mean I was stronger than him.
“Simply, I had a great desire to get on track and push to the limit, Kimi maybe has lost this type of motivation. A good comparison can be made using Fernando [Alonso], who was always in front of Raikkonen.
“Sure, it is true that Vettel also beats Kimi, but not always and anyway the gap between them is less.” he added.
Leclerc is one of the most exciting prospects in F1, but do you think he has it in him to challenge his 4 time world champion teammate right away?
