'Leclerc will beat Vettel right away'

Charles Leclerc has been backed to beat Sebastian Vettel "right away" when he joins Ferrari next season. That is the view of former Scuderia test driver Raffaele Marciello, who was also scathing of Vettel's talents as a driver, rating him lower than Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica.

Leclerc will become the second-youngest driver in history to race for the Scuderia when he lines up on the grid in Australia next season, having impressed in his rookie campaign with Sauber in 2018.

After winning four consecutive world championships with Red Bull, Vettel struggled alongside a new teammate in Daniel Ricciardo during the 2014 season and Marciello – a member of Ferrari's academy between 2014-2016 predicts a similar story this time around.

"I have never rated Vettel at the level of Hamilton, Alonso or even Kubica," Marciello told Formula Passion.

We will see again the redbull 2014 situation with Charles-Seb ???? vaiii @Charles_Leclerc let’s hope is true ???????? — Raffaele Marciello (@Real_RMarciello) September 7, 2018

"And I am convinced that when Charles arrives at Ferrari, he will be able to beat him right away. I think that if Ferrari does not win the world title this year, it will be Sebastian's responsibility.

"In the years of the Red Bull titles he had Mark Webber behind him, not a champion. And their car was much better than all the others.

"The comparison with Raikkonen is not very reliable. When I drove during testing in Abu Dhabi in 2014, I was seven-tenths faster than Kimi, but those seven-tenths did not mean I was stronger than him.

"Simply, I had a great desire to get on track and push to the limit, Kimi maybe has lost this type of motivation. A good comparison can be made using Fernando [Alonso], who was always in front of Raikkonen.

"Sure, it is true that Vettel also beats Kimi, but not always and anyway the gap between them is less."

MORE: 'Ferrari should be leading this championship'
MORE: Vettel wishes Schumacher advice could aid Hamilton title fight