Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari promotion has the potential to challenge Sebastian Vettel like no threat he’s faced before
Next season promises one of the biggest grid shake-ups seen after Leclerc agreed to replace Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari
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Your support makes all the difference.The new engine regulations may not be due to arrive in Formula One until 2021 but next season already promises to be like nothing before thanks to the driver shake-up over the last few months.
Tuesday’s announcement that 20-year-old protégé Charles Leclerc will replace Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari next season to partner Sebastian Vettel brought with it a major surprise in that Raikkonen – a veteran of the sport at 38 years old – will remain on the grid in a move back to Sauber, where it all began 17 years ago.
With Daniel Ricciardo leaving Red Bull for Renault, Pierre Gasly being promoted in his place from Toro Rosso and McLaren fielding an all-new line-up of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, not to mention the messy situation that is unfolding at Racing Point Force India that is likely to see Lance Stroll join from Williams and leave the talented Esteban Ocon without a seat, 2019 will be the biggest shake-up of the sport since Michael Schumacher left (the first time) and no one knew what to expect.
Heck, even Raikkonen choosing to use social media to announce his Sauber move is a sign of the times given the ‘Ice Man’ is the most unlikeliest of figures to “take to Instagram” for such an occasion.
Certainly Raikkonen is taking a risk by not bowing out of the sport at a position where he is as close to the top as he can get before he eventually calls it a day. The Finn was well in the running to win the Italian Grand Prix nine days ago after securing pole position, but the way he and his team were outsmarted by Mercedes into destroying their tyres showed why he hasn’t won a race since returning to Ferrari five years ago – Vettel has clinched 13 victories in just four years with Ferrari.
If he isn’t careful, Raikkonen could easily become a regular backmarker in a car that while it is improving still remains some way off the frontrunners. But while he is taking a big risk to his reputation by returning to Sauber, the man most affected by the reshuffle is clearly championship contender Vettel.
Locked in a battle with Lewis Hamilton in the race to become five-time world champion, Vettel can ill-afford to start thinking about 2019. But he will arrive in Melbourne with a new teammate that has already been classed as a world champion in the making. At just 20 years old, Leclerc is one of the most exciting talents on the grid and in the same car as Vettel he stands an excellent chance of mixing it up with the two frontrunners.
You only have to look at Hamilton and Vettel and their first forays into F1 to see what can happen. Hamilton graduated from GP2 to McLaren in 2007 and came within a point of winning the world championship, destabilising the status quo among the team in the process as he and Fernando Alonso engaged in an almighty intra-team feud. In Vettel’s first full season, he won the Italian Grand Prix in a Toro Rosso. No other driver has achieved such a result for the junior Red Bull team, and within one and two years respectively both drivers were world champions.
Add into this the uncomfortableness that Vettel felt with Daniel Ricciardo as his teammate at Red Bull in 2014, and the fact that Leclerc will arrive at Ferrari with a full season under his belt, all the ingredients are there for the future Ferrari teammates to be at each other's throats.
Leclerc appears to be cut from the same cloth; a driver who has an incredible feel for control no matter what car he is behind the wheel of. In the last three years, the Monegasque has won the GP3 and Formula Two championships and secured only Sauber’s second top-six finish since 2013. He undoubtedly has the talent and the wise head to go with it, but he is also fuelled by emotion.
He spoke to The Independent earlier this year about the impact that his father Herve’s death just days before his F2 victory in Azerbaijan last season, as well as the death in July 2015 of his close friend, godfather and idol, Jules Bianchi. Upon announcing his 2019 drive on Twitter, Leclerc immediately paid tribute to the both of them, and you get the sense that when it comes to the mind of Leclerc, he has a few passengers with him on this promising journey.
2019 Formula One Grid
Mercedes (confirmed): Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas
Ferrari (confirmed): Sebastian Vettel, Charles Leclerc
Red Bull (confirmed): Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly
Racing Point Force India: Sergio Perez (TBC), Lance Stroll (TBC), Esteban Ocon (TBC), George Russell (TBC)
Williams: Sergey Sirotkin (TBC), Lance Stroll (TBC), Esteban Ocon (TBC), George Russell (TBC)
Renault (confirmed): Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg
Toro Rosso: Brendon Hartley (TBC), Daniil Kvyat (TBC)
Haas: Kevin Magnussen (TBC), Romain Grosjean (TBC), Sergio Perez (TBC)
McLaren (confirmed): Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris
Sauber: Kimi Raikkonen (confirmed), Marcus Ericsson (TBC), Antonio Giovinazzi (TBC)
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