Charles Leclerc says he is comfortable with his team-mate four times world champion Sebastian Vettel.
He says that he will respect the decision of Ferrari’s management even if they choose to change his team-mate. But he insists that he had been in comfortable with current team mate.
Leclerc for first time in his F1 career is staying with a team in consecutive seasons. Ferrari engaged him for a longer period and would be staying with team till 2024.
But Vettel, who switched from Red Bull to Ferrari, is running out of contact with this season.
During interaction with media, Leclerc was open about his relationship with his team mate. He spoke at Australian Grand Prix weekend: “I’m very good with him by my side, but I will respect Ferrari’s decision in case they want to change.”
Last year Ferrari’s drivers were characterized as alpha’s, who fought for domination through out the season. The fight for domination resulted in many disputed for the team mates.
Leclerc was accused of being rebellious of the team’s orders during qualifying at Monza last year. He met with severe criticism for questioning the team strategy in Singapore Graand Prix.
The Monégasque was asked to pit earlier, which resulted in a Vettel’s victory and resulted in desperation in the young Ferrari driver.
In Russian Grand Prix, Vettel was asked to step down his position to his team mate. But he failed to abide by team orders and to compensate his young team member. This escalated the conflict which resulted in collision during Brazilian Grand Prix forcing Ferrari to retire.
Despite the escalation, Leclerc believes that his bond with Vettel “has always been good.”
“Obviously last year there have been some tricky moments,” he admitted. “But our relationship stayed the same, which I think is a good thing. We are both mature enough to do the separation between what happens on-track and [away from] the track.
“I feel very lucky to be in a position where I’ve got a long-term contract and and I’m happy to be in this position. I also know his position in a way as [in] my last two years I only had a one-year contract. But I don’t think it will it will destabilise him so much. He’s a very strong driver and I expect him to be very strong anyway.”
