Jan.16 (GMM) Charles Leclerc has admitted to “tensions” with Sebastian Vettel last year, but he is hoping the Ferrari teammates can work well together in 2020.
Last year, Vettel’s new and decade-younger teammate successfully challenged the quadruple world champion’s number 1 status at Ferrari.
But Leclerc insists he respects the 32-year-old German.
“I learned a lot from him. He is an extremely professional driver and also a nice guy,” Leclerc is quoted by Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper.
“There have been tensions between us but I hope that incidents like the one in Brazil will no longer occur.
“I think we are mature enough to work together and develop the car in the best interests of the team,” the 22-year-old added.
While Leclerc has just put his signature on a new Ferrari deal through 2024, Vettel is out of contract at the end of this year.
But Leclerc insists that he enjoys racing alongside the veteran of approaching 250 grands prix and 53 wins.
“He looks at every single detail a lot,” he is quoted by Corriere della Sera.
“We were working well together. Obviously we had our moments together on the track, where we learned together. But from the way he works with the team and the engineers, I learned a lot and I still have a lot to learn.
“As I said, he goes a lot into the details, in things that I never thought could be useful to engineers. Sometimes I’m just here to listen to what he has to say about the session. It’s very, very interesting,” Leclerc said.