Vettel says new teammate Leclerc ’a good guy’

Sebastian Vettel insists he is not worried about getting a new Ferrari teammate for 2019.

The German has lost his preferred teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, who amused observers of the FIA gala with his drunken antics.

In the Finn’s place is Charles Leclerc, a highly rated young driver who moves up from Sauber.

"The harmony between Kimi and I meant that we didn’t waste time with various things," Vettel told the Swiss newspaper Blick.

"Everyone is different, and we will see how Charles and I will work together. But he is a good guy and Ferrari is a huge chance for him.

"The basic rule is unchanged — you always want to beat the other," Vettel added.

However, some believe that Leclerc’s youth and ambition will make life more difficult for Vettel, whose support by Ferrari was already questioned by some in 2018.

"It is clear that Charles is at a different stage of his career to me, but we all want Ferrari back on top," said Vettel.

"We’ll see how things will work out next year, but as far as I know he’s a good guy."

Vettel also bucked the idea that Ferrari was essentially on-par with Mercedes this year, but he only missed the championship due to personal mistakes.

"The years after my last title have not been simple," he said, "but it’s good to be back in a position where we can fight for the victories and the championship.

"But if you have a global vision of the whole year, I think we were still very far away," said Vettel.

"After Spa and Monza we had a very significant drop in performance that made it very difficult for us."