Vettel backs Leclerc future at Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel has backed Charles Leclerc as a future Ferrari driver after the rookie's impressive start to life in Formula 1 with Sauber. Vettel's fellow four-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was also on hand to offer Leclerc advice as he tries to crack F1.

Leclerc has entered F1 with serious pedigree, having won titles in GP3 and Formula 2 in each of the past two years.

The Monegasque driver has been part of Ferrari's academy since March 2016 and has been tipped as a potential replacement for Kimi Raikkonen when the Finnish veteran's deal expires at the end of the year.

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Having scored points in the past two races with Sauber, Vettel says Leclerc is doing everything he can to prove his worth to the House of Maranello.

"I think the hype is absolutely justified," Vettel said at a pre-Monaco GP press conference with Leclerc also sat at the table.

"If there's no hype around him, then I don't understand who should be hyped because you walk through all the categories like that, then you belong here.

"But I think the advice to him is not to listen, just get on with it and just enjoy it.

"The cars that we're driving are the fastest cars in the world and that's what you should be looking for, not all the noise that sometimes happens around. I think it's important that you're here, you know why you want to be here. You look at what's really important to you. The rest is not that much of your concern.

"I'm not signing who is sitting next to me but [you should] probably ask Maurizio. Yeah, I don't see why not [racing alongside Leclerc in the future].

"I think the races he's had so far, he used his opportunities, he scored points with a car that doesn't belong in the points so he's doing everything he can at the moment."

Hamilton also preached the need for Leclerc to enjoy his time in F1, and praised his journey to the top.

"I've been watching him coming through and what he's done in the last couple of years has been great to see," Hamilton added.

"I sit with the team bosses and engineers and we watch the lower categories and always looking out for that shining talent to come through.

"Ultimately Formula 1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of the sport, which it is, but it's supposed to have the best drivers from around the world and in all honesty, you couldn't say that there's the best drivers – the 100 per cent best drivers – from all the nations around the world.

"So it's just really great to see a really talented kid come through, that's really just earned his way, like he really has the potential to do great things here and you can't say that about every kid that's come through in the past years and ultimately it's very, very difficult because it's such an expensive sport."