Ecclestone criticizes Ferrari: "If Hamilton comes, they'd bury him with it"

Ecclestone thinks that Vettel is being neglected by many people. The 89-year-old billionaire believes that the Heppenheimer just needs more support from Ferrari. "Has he gone off a little bit, and if so why?", Ecclestone asks himself aloud. "Probably the way he’s sort of been dealt within the team. He was sort of number one in the team. All of a sudden the kid from nowhere that nobody’s heard of comes along and performs, and everyone fell in love with him at Ferrari", he sketches the picture.

Lack of support for Vettel accused

It's no secret that Ecclestone is a good friend of Vettel and so it's logical that he's going to compete for the four-time world champion. Earlier he said that 'we've already seen the best of Leclerc'. So the integrity of Ecclestone can be questioned a bit. "But we don’t talk about things like that, but I think behind things, he would never say it but perhaps he feels a little bit that he’d been put on the back burner a little bit.”

According to Ecclestone, the support that top drivers like Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Vettel get from their teams is vital. "All these guys are as good as the support they get", says Ecclestone, who believes that Hamilton should cherish that and for that reason should not move to Ferrari.

Ecclestone advises against switching Hamilton to Ferrari

Ecclestone is afraid that Hamilton is going to do the same as Vettel. "He’s used to being more or less in a lot of ways in charge. And I think if he went to Ferrari, if their number two, what they consider semi number one, continues to perform he wouldn’t survive there. Because if they fell in love with Leclerc, that’s what will happen. And they’d bury him", according to Ecclestone at Autocar.