Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Shanghai International Circuit, 2019

Leclerc says his driving style is “very different” to Vettel’s

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In the round-up: Charles Leclerc gives some insight into the differing approaches between himself and team mate Sebastian Vettel.

What they say

Seb and I, from Barcelona [testing] we have two very different driving styles. So we require some changes on the car and some slightly different balance.

I won’t go too much in detail with this but we don’t require exactly the same car obviously.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

In 2012 Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said the team shouldn’t have “two roosters in the same hen house”. Is that the situation they have now with Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc?

Ferrari are in a difficult situation.

If you let them race they will probably be more evenly matched than most people think, and then take points off each other, while Hamilton dominates Bottas and takes all the points. If you make Vettel clear number one you risk him folding under pressure against Hamilton.

The problems of having two roosters.
D M Coyle

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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21 comments on “Leclerc says his driving style is “very different” to Vettel’s”

  1. COTD has an interesting point. Yes, there can be problems having two number 1’s in the same team, but on the other hand, that could also be for the benefit as some other similar cases have proven.

    1. Its getting harder to call vettel a rooster if hé keeps folding under pressure :

    2. Nico Rosberg said, that Vettel is one victory away from regainig focus.

      Having two super fast drivers is good for the team. If they manage to not crash scoring 1-2 will take away more points from Hamilton.

      Mercedes had it easy with their speed advantage, Ferrari seems to be slightly behind and having an imploding driver situation. But if they turn it around two great drivers can destroy anything one great driver can throw at them.

      They should recognise LeClerc has great speed and start using team orders in strategically advantageus way.

      Waiting for 7 laps and then pulling the trigger when tires are gone is not the way to do it.

      1. But Nico is becoming the next Villeneuve

        1. I think you might have something there… ;-)

        2. I hope so, most of the times Villeneuve was spot on !

          1. BlackJackFan
            21st April 2019, 3:54

            lol

      2. two great drivers can destroy anything one great driver can throw at them.

        Also imagine the headaches for the team strategists trying to monitor and second guess the race plans of two genuine opponents instead of just one and a wingman who is there to block/obstruct. Sounds like fun :)

        1. F1oSaurus (@)
          20th April 2019, 10:09

          @nullapax It actually sounds harder to defend against Ferrari who will simply sacrifice their #2 car.

    3. It can also mean that they might win the constructor championship even when losing the driver’s championship.

    4. Hm, @jerejj but isn’t the statement in that CotD seriously flawed in that it mentions Hamilton easily outclassing Bottas when so far Bottas has not seemed to be as outclassed by Hamilton as Vettel has been by Leclerc?

  2. Great link to the Berger article. Enjoyable reading.

  3. DarkSchneider
    20th April 2019, 10:46

    Oh ? An Headline about Vettel ?
    Havn’t seen any before.
    It’s been a long time ! :p

    1. Its been ages since last headline.

    2. F1oSaurus (@)
      20th April 2019, 12:17

      Yes it’s bizar that on a blog mostly aimed at F1, the names of Hamilton, Leclerc, Vettel and Bottas pop up most in headlines /s

  4. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K2KZ5Xaurf0
    I think racefans should do a feature on super formula 2019, it is the 2nd fastest open wheeler series in the world, smaller, light, more nimble but as as reliant on aero or engine port. and now has halo. Is anyone still offended by halo.

    1. kpcart, I’m going to have to pull you up on those comments about the Super Formula cars being smaller and more nimble, because the Dallara SF19 is a pretty big car in its own right – it’s over 5.2m in length and over 1.9m in width, which actually makes it pretty similar in size to most current F1 cars.

    2. petebaldwin (@)
      20th April 2019, 19:45

      I’ve never been offended by the halo. I’ve always said it looks like a really amateur solution to a real problem. It still looks the same to me. Hopefully they’ll eventually find a better solution that is fitting for the supposed “pinnacle” of motorsport.

      Some people have moved on to the next thing they can be outraged about but for me, it’s just another small thing that makes F1 a bit worse. I’m glad it’s safer but I’m disappointed that’s the best they could come up with.

  5. The Imola 1989 article is a great read!

  6. Surely not good to have drivers with different styles. If the car’s characteristics fits one, it won’t the other and vice versa.

    One would think a team would try to get drivers that match, but maybe they don’t think like this at all? Seems like it.

Comments are closed.