How Leclerc saw off Vettel

Sebastian Vettel started 2019 as Ferrari’s de facto number one driver, but ended it finishing behind Charles Leclerc in the championship. In between, Ferrari’s season rocketed between poor performance, reliability problems, stunning Leclerc highs, costly Vettel mistakes and rising tension between its drivers that reached a crescendo with them crashing out in Brazil. The underlying narrative through all of that was the shifting dynamic between four-time world champion Vettel and rising star Leclerc, and how Leclerc’s emphatic first season with Ferrari disrupted the status quo.

Team principal Mattia Binotto’s logic in making the more experienced Vettel the team’s “guide” to the title in pre-season was justified, but his faith, it turns out, was not. Leclerc accepted Ferrari’s stance, given his newcomer status within the team, and considered it his “job” to change Binotto’s mind. Now, Leclerc can look back on a job well done – two