Vettel's performance affected by Leclerc in 2019 - Ferrari

Charles Leclerc's seamless start to life at Ferrari having an impact on Sebastian Vettel was "inevitable" according to the Scuderia's CEO Louis Camilleri.

Vettel began the season with "priority" bestowed upon him by team principal Mattia Binotto as Ferrari looked to break the championship stranglehold of Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.

However, Leclerc reneged on team orders as early as the second race of the season in Bahrain, and ought to have won the Sakhir race as engine failure ultimately denied him after a stunning performance.

Vettel had spun out of winning contention in that race and has endured a frustrating campaign that has seen him finish below a team-mate in the standings for just the second time in his F1 career and Camilleri says handling Leclerc's emergence has played its part.

"Clearly Charles' performance has had an impact," Camilleri said.

"That's inevitable when you're the world champion and this young kid comes along and has a phenomenal season.

"Charles has a lot of talent. He has surprised even ourselves as to what he has been capable of."

Tensions have simmered between Vettel and Leclerc, with the German also having ignored orders that favoured his team-mate in 2019.

Extra scrutiny was placed on the pair's relationship after a collision at the Brazilian GP handed Ferrari a first double DNF in over two years, but Camilleri believes the incident can be a force for good in the future.

"Their collision last month in Brazil was a nightmare," he said.

"However, the air has been cleared. And sometimes you need a crisis to put the goalposts in the appropriate place.

"Going forwards it gives Mattia a much better way of managing them because they realised how much they screwed up."

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