1978 Formula 1 champion and former Ferrari driver Mario Andretti reflects on the Sebastian Vettel – Charles Leclerc partnership, just a few days after Ferrari’s sudden axing of team principal Maurizio Arrivabene which has left a lot of questions around the team, as Mattia Binotto has been promoted to be the team’s new principal. It has been questioned whether Sebastian Vettel will be the right man for Ferrari to lead the team forward, but that’s absolutely not an issue according to Mario Andretti.
“He is absolutely the right man for Ferrari” – he told Sky Italia when talking about the four-time Formula One world champion – “I remember in his first year with Red Bull, I asked him what were his ambitions for the future and he immediately replied: Drive for Ferrari! He is the right driver for the job. I think it’s hard to say who between Hamilton and Vettel is better because they drive different cars, but they’re both good guys.” – he explained.
In Charles Leclerc, Sebastian Vettel will have a very eager young teammate, and one that won’t likely be demoted to number two driver like Kimi Raikkonen has been in recent years. Mario Andretti doesn’t doubt the talents of the Monegasque, but at just 21 years of age, he could be a bit too young and inexperienced: “The Leclerc-Vettel pairing seems correct, the alternative would have been to continue with Kimi because he and Sebastian got along very well. But we will see. Leclerc seems to be very good and being young means he has a good future ahead of him. It was [Sergio] Marchionne’s idea to promote him but I don’t know if this is the right moment for Leclerc.” – he added.
“With two drivers in a team, there must be a number one and a number two, having two number ones never works,” the Italian-born American concluded.
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