Vettel happy to help Leclerc... while beating him on-track

Joas van Wingerden Thursday 1 November 2018 15:32

Sebastian Vettel says he will be happy to help Charles Leclerc at Ferrari next year, but warns that he wants to beat the Monegasque on-track while doing so. Leclerc will become Ferrari's second-youngest driver in Formula 1 history when he makes the switch from Sauber in 2019.

Leclerc has sparkled in his rookie F1 season, scoring 27 points across eight top-10 finishes for Sauber.

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Kimi Raikkonen will step down in order to make way for Leclerc, the Finn switching over to Sauber.

Vettel spoke up his relationship with the veteran Finn before it was confirmed that he would be leaving, but the German is looking forward to teaming up with Leclerc all the same.

"It will certainly be different, because Charles is not Kimi and Kimi is not Charles," Vettel told Motorsport.

Feel the love. Bring the passion ???? Our fans are all around the world and they're the very best!#ForzaFerrari #MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/ExO5Z0Ldeb — Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) October 30, 2018

"He is a young boy, I think he will have a lot of thoughts in his mind and I think we will have to work together in the interests of the team.

"I'm sure he wants to beat me like I want to beat him, the rules are clear, and they are the same rules that are with Kimi.

"I think the key is working together and, as I said, he will have many things in his head.

"But I'm his teammate, so I'm here to help him too. I'm not the type that is hiding or playing games, which is why I think I get along very well with Kimi, because we are very similar on this front. We'll see…"

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