Ferrari have to support Leclerc after 'brave' move

Ferrari engineer Jock Clear believes that the Scuderia need to be ready to "support" young driver Charles Leclerc next year when he finally moves to the team, in order to prove that the "brave" decision to have him replace Kimi Raikkonen was justified.

Leclerc is still in his rookie season in F1, but a series of impressive performances with Sauber have led Ferrari to promote him at the expense of 2007 world champion, Raikkonen.

Clear not only thinks that Leclerc must be ready, but the team must be ready too.

"One of the comments that many people made was 'is he ready?' – well, we have to be ready as well," he told Motorsport.com.

"Ferrari have to be ready to take this step. It is a brave step that Ferrari has made, and we're all pleased about the fact that we're willing to make that step.

"But we have to be ready to give him the opportunity and support him in the right way. Hopefully he'll go on to great things. I think the relationship with Seb will be important.

"We need to manage that very positively and make sure the team as a whole grows, not just on Charles's side and not just on Seb's side."

Dreams do come true... I'll be driving for @scuderiaferrari for the 2019 Formula 1 World Championship. I will be eternally grateful to @scuderiaferrari for the opportunity given. To @nicolastodt for supporting me since 2011. To my family??. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/O4GQVO570b — Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) September 11, 2018

Leclerc finished in seventh place as 'best of the rest; behind Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull at the Brazilian Grand Prix, but Clear has warned the 21-year-old that racing at the front of the grid is much different from competing in the middle.

"We've known Charles for a while now," the engineer continued.

"We've had a relationship with him over a few years, from his days in the Academy so he's not an unknown entity for us, we're not going into this completely blind.

"Clearly in his first year in F1 he's showed some great potential, he's had some great races, so I think everybody is excited about the prospect.

"Everybody knows what kind of pressure he will come under, that racing at the very sharp end is going to be a very different prospect for him, but that's a challenge for us as well."

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