Briatore clear about Vettel: ''He has to pay for his fast teammate''

"Charles Leclerc is faster than Vettel. The Monegask is already ready for the title fight and is destined to become world champion. If I was team boss, I would be aiming all my arrows at him. It's an extreme talent. He drives very aggressively and gets everything out of the car'', says Briatore in the programme 'La Politica nel Pallone'.

Vettel has to pay

''I said two years ago that Ferrari had to get the young Leclerc for Kimi Raikkonen, because with Kimi Ferrari had no chance to win the constructors' title. In 2019 Ferrari made some choices that didn't really help Leclerc, especially when you see that Vettel doesn't have a chance at the title after all. Leclerc is the potential champion, but he needs the right car''.

Now that Vettel will leave Ferrari, the power will lie much more with Leclerc, who doesn't have to welcome his new teammate Sainz until 2021. According to Briatore, this is the ideal solution for Ferrari. The Flamboyant manager himself often chose the number one driver. That way he won titles with Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.

The secret

''The winning recipe in Formula 1 is always to have a driver who can fight for the title and another driver who can grab the points and hold off other competitors. Vettel must pay for the fast driver who has entered his team. Leclerc has surprised there as Lewis Hamilton at McLaren and then you have to choose as a team'.

So successor Sainz will have his hands full with 'Team Leclerc', but according to the flamboyant Italian the Spaniard is a good driver for the Italian race stable. ''It's a good driver who has had a great season in 2019. If you look at the car he drove, he just got more out of it'', concludes Briatore.